Foot Falls: Hercules, Journey to Olympus
by FoxxStarr
Summary: The Sixth installment in the Foot Falls Series, Artemis and Tracey are sent to Ancient Greece again only it is not the Greece they remember. They join Hercules, Amphiaraus, Autolycus, Atalanta and Iolaus on their journey to the summit of Olympus. They must all pass tests and face their fears to save the world... Again. *Please note I own none of this* Rated M for language/Triggers
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! Welcome back, if you're new to this story arc please go check out my previous Foot Falls stories! Please review!**

"You have done well but your work is not yet done." The Voice repeated as they flew through the Waiting Room. Artemis and Tracey held hands tightly as they hurtled through the antiseptic white space and into bright summer sun and heat that left them gasping.

Artemis staggered but caught her balance and supported Tracey rubbing her back while Tracey went through her usual bout of vomiting. She took stock of what they were wearing, Tracey was dressed in a sturdy wool cloak that covered her from neck to ankles but Artemis thought she saw some sort of loose linen wrappings or bandages. She herself was dressed in a pair of sturdy leather pants, a dark green sleeveless shirt and a snug wide leather belt. Her boots were supple but sturdy black leather that laced up her calves. She checked her arm and winced, she still had a broken wrist though her cast had been covered in leather and dull metal disks hiding how out of place the cast would have been in whatever time period they now found themselves. Tracey's arms were wrapped in the same bandages as the rest of her so Artemis figured the cuts Moriarty had given her were still there too.

She checked to be sure they both had their satchels and felt a surge of relief when she found them slung over their shoulders. She scrabbled hers open and found the medicines, bandages and other medical supplies tucked in and padded with Sherlock's scarf that he'd wrapped around her neck just before they were dragged away. "Tracey, you ok?" She asked when the vomiting finally stopped.

Coughing several times, Tracey wiped a hand across her lips to rid herself of the bile and looked at the ground beneath her hands. She unclasped the grass from her fingers and dusted off her hands before pushing herself up onto her knees and brushing her hair out of her face.

"I'll be fine..." She mumbled, looking around at their surrounding. "I wish we had a clue as to where we are now."

She looked at her apparel or in this case the lack there of and peeked beneath her cloak, sighing tiredly and letting the fabric of her cloak fall back to her slender form. Nodding her approval to Artemis's attire, she gingerly touched her arms and flinched a little cause she still felt pain.

"You are looking good, but I wish the being we're serving could have healed us out of sympathy..." She said, looking back at Artemis and then back down at her cloak. "This can only mean that I have some new tricks up my sleeve... though I can't understand why I have to look like a cheap prostitute."

She shouldered her satchel carefully and scratched her head a little.

"Somehow I think the Voice has more pressing matters on their mind." Artemis commented.

She'd finally gotten the chance to tell Tracey about her Dream and the conversation she'd had with the Voice that is all Voices and the enemy while Tracey was in the hospital; though she left out the part where Tracey was dragged along by mistake. Tracey hated to feel like a burden and she really hated being discounted or treated as though she wasn't valued for her own strength and opinion.

Artemis crouched down and started going through her bad when her hand fell on the tiny figurine she'd swiped from Sherlock's flat several days ago. She smiled and handed it to Tracey. "I forgot to give you this… I found Nargis while we were in London."

"Hm?" Tracey made a noise as she got to her bare feet and brushed her cloak free of dirt. "Thank you Artemis."

She took up the figurine and traced it's features, looking at it fondly before opening her bag and carefully wrapping it up and stowing it safely again. Buckling her straps and making sure everything was secure, Tracey pulled the hood up on her cloak and waited for something to come to her.

"I guess we should pick a direction and start moving in it until we come across someone or something." She stated, eyeing their surrounding that held some familiarity in both the land and the air. "What do you think?"

Artemis looked around at their surroundings. They were at the edge of a copse of trees, a rippling expanse of grass waving in the breeze. Artemis could see the faint tracks of a wagon trail nearby and followed the marks with her eyes until she saw a village off in the distance. "Let's start there." She pointed.

Tracey's gaze followed Artemis's hand to the village she was pointing to and nodded. A warm, fresh breeze rushed passed them, whipping her cloak toward the village and there was a lingering scent of summer flowers on the air and it made her smile a little. The weather itself was pleasant and everything was lush and green, perfect weather for picnics and enjoy the sunshine, but that wasn't something they would be able to do. Artemis and Tracey had to find the reason why they were here, where here was, and where they were going to stay the night.

"I don't mind sleeping outside if we have to, but another night under a roof would be ideal."

"Let's start at the village and see what we learn there." Artemis settled her bag comfortably across her shoulder and started walking across the field.

When they got to the village they found that a festival of some kind was going on. By the time they had gotten through the crowd to an inn Tracey was feeling like she wanted to kill the next person to bump into her. She was still hurting from her torture session though the pain was slowly ebbing away. It was more so mental now, but she didn't want anyone to touch her or her arms. There were too many people for this village and she didn't like it. Tracey tried to keep to Artemis's side as much as she could and had to grab her satchel once or twice to keep her in her sight. Streamers decorated poles that lined up and down the village's main street and many decorations were hung in the houses and bright flowers were everywhere. It seemed lively enough, with the music of different instruments playing and various dances being demonstrated up and down the street. The people wore bright, foreign cloths that she and Artemis had never seen before or hadn't seen in awhile and they tried to steer passed it all.

"Looks like it's festival time here... the promise of drunken brawls and more noise than should be heard in a lifetime will be heard for a week or so I'm sure." Tracey started, the smell of various foods being cooked and desserts baking made her shake her head. "I think I'll stay outside thank you."

Artemis shook her head. "No dice. I am not letting you out of my sight for a long while." She took Tracey's hand and glared daggers at anyone who got too close. She finally managed to get them to the Innkeeper and got a room for them.

Tracey felt like everyone was staring at them but it was an older man sitting alone in a corner who was eyeing them curiously that raised her hackles. She was surprised that the hair on the back of her neck and her damaged arms wasn't standing on end.

Her breathing became a little more uneven and she stopped in her tracks, her bare feet holding her in place on the rough wood floor as she was captivated by the man's deep, dark eyes. Tilting her head to the side a little, Tracey studied the man before she felt her lip twitch as if she wanted to snarl at him, but wasn't entirely sure why or what had came over her. He didn't appear to be anything other than an old man, but there was just something about him that she couldn't put her finger on it. A squeeze from Artemis's hand brought her back too where they were and together they made their way to their temporary room.

"There was a man watching us in the common room..." Tracey whispered after she had closed and locked the door behind them. "Needless to say I don't like it. It's not one of the village people here and I don't think he's here for the festival."

"He might be the reason we're here." She set her satchel on the small stool and motioned Tracey over. "I want to check your arms."

She started unwrapping the bandages and dug around in her bag for antiseptic wipes and the scar reducing ointment that she'd had John pick up for her. "They're healing well."

Tracey watched in silence as Artemis spread the ointment on her arms gently and then wrapped them up again with fresh bandages. She only noticed a slight shake in her arms now and was quite pleased with herself at that but Arty was right and the physical scars on her arms were going away. Those she wasn't too concerned about this time, it was more the mental ones that Moriarty left behind on her, but she didn't focus on those at the moment. Right now she and Artemis now needed to figure out why they were here.

"They are, I'm hoping they'll go away in about two weeks or so." She said, pushing back the hood of her cloak and letting her limbs vanish beneath the fabric and out of sight again. "I think the first order of business is to get something to eat, despite the fact that I emptied my stomach, I could still use something to eat right now."

Artemis took her hand and squeezed it gently. "They won't go away entirely, they'd fade and with as fair as you are they won't be as noticeable in about a year but honey…" She touched Tracey's cheek where another small scar sat. "The other scars, they won't heal unless you let me help you. You can't shut me out ok?"

Turning her silent, hazel eyes to study Artemis's face, Tracey blinked at her a few times before sighing quietly and nodded.

"I couldn't shut you out Artemis even if I tried, you'd always find a way in." She laughed, though it was really a forceful exhale of air with the help of her stomach. "Let's get something sent up here, I don't want to go down there until we absolutely have to and before we pass out for the night, I want to take a bath before changing the bandages again."

"I'm going to go down and get food, Why don't you write in your journal while I'm gone. I'll knock three times before I open the door so you know it's me." Artemis rummaged in her bag until she found a canister of the gold coins and pulled one out and left the room.

She managed to work her way through the celebrating throng and asked the bar man for two meals, a jug of watered wine and something sweet for dessert. While she was waiting she sipped on a glass of wine and watched the room. She saw the older man sitting in the corner watching her with a faint smile on his face. He raised his glass to her and she sighed and started making her way through the throng towards him. As she got closer she recognized him and her heart thudded painfully. She slid into the seat across from him and set her wine down carefully. "You have been watching me since I walked in."

He smiled and leaned forward. "Hard not to stare at a Goddess." He remarked and Artemis chuckled.

"I'm no Goddess."

"No… but you're not just human either. The second I saw your friend in the cloak I had a vision. Two women climbing to the top of Mount Olympus to fight a rising sea of Fire." He sipped his own wine and Artemis glanced at the strange spear leaning behind his chair.

"Hmm… And how often do you have visions?" Artemis leaned back and crossed her legs.

"Not as often as I used to, I am, after all, supposed to be dead. But occasionally the Gods still see fit to let me in on their secrets. My name is Amphiaraus, I have a friend who can help you two."

"Artemis." She held out a hand and he took it and kissed her knuckles.

"So you are a Goddess." He smiled at her.

She chuckled. "I was only named after one."

"Names are a funny thing aren't they? You're going to need help you know." Amphiaraus commented crossing his arms over his chest.

Artemis ran a finger along the edge of her wine glass and tilted her head. "I know."

He smiled and finished his wine. Artemis finished hers as well and stood up. "I need to take the food up to my friend. Come on, but be quiet and be polite, she's a little… hurt right now."

He stood up as Artemis made her way back to the bar and took the tray then led Amphiaraus up the stairs to their room. She balanced the tray and knocked three times before opening the door. "Tracey, I've got food and I have some company."


	2. Chapter 2

The silence she welcomed as she sat herself down at the little table for two against the far wall, her chair facing the door so she could see Artemis when she came back to their room. Disregarding the fact that she still wore her cloak, Tracey did push the hood of her cloak back with a sigh. Her notebook sat on the table in front of her, a pen poised in her right hand as she waited to write down her next bout of thoughts. Without really paying attention to the time, she didn't realize how much she had written until several pages had been written and she heard knocking on the door. Tracey stopped scribbling in her leather notebook, her handwriting neat and small to conserve space on the pages so they could hold all her deepest thoughts and wishes. She heard Artemis's call, closed her notebook and wrapped its leather cord around it before standing up, resting her hand on her journal.

"I don't care to entertain at the moment." She muttered in Elvish, forgetting herself with a shake of her head and picked up her book to take to her satchel and put it away. "A day Artemis, can we not have a day without something happening?"

She turned back to the door of their room and saw Artemis standing there with food and drink. A moment later a man stood behind her, the same one she saw in the common room when they arrived. She studied him again and then looked to Arty again with a sigh. Artemis set the tray down and gave her a placating look. "Tracey meet Amphiaraus. He's had a vision about us and has offered to take us to someone who can help."

Amphiaraus was giving Tracey an odd look his eyes half focused as he moved a little closer. "Your skin is too tight… you long to fly… and run… to rend flesh and swim in rivers lakes and the sea…"

She started to stiffen her posture at his advance, squaring her shoulders but not making any move to step back or show any weakness by shying away from him. The twitching returned to her lips and she flexed her hands beneath her cloak without realizing the rising urge she was starting to feel, but resisting it.

"Ah yes, now I remember where I've seen you before..." Tracey said quietly, eyes never straying from Amphiaraus and his sleepy features. "What are you talking about...?"

He blinked and seemed to come back into focus. "Hmm… Oh was I talking? Don't mind me, it happens from time to time." He took a step back and glanced at Artemis who was watching him intently. "I need to take you to Hercules."

"That will have to wait until after we've eaten." Tracey answered with a shake of her head. "We just got here and are starving. If you wish you can stay and enlighten us with some information as to what village we're in and such like that."

She sat back down in the chair she had been occupying when they arrived and pulled a plate off the tray and placed it in front of her so she could satisfy her hunger. Artemis poured her a glass of watered wine and dished out a portion off her plate for Amphiaraus. He nodded his thanks but answered Tracey's question. "We're in some backwater village called Daera. I was passing through when I had a powerful urge for some wine and stopped for a bit. They're celebrating the emergence of a new God here. In fact they are celebrating it all across Greece, it is quite the occasion, we don't get new Gods very often. Pity it wasn't a Goddess, we could use a few more of the fairer sex in power."

Tracey looked to Artemis and raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her lips. She had to shake her head though, they were back in Greece again and it would only be a matter of time before Zeus found them. He was going to want some answers and as for herself and Arty, they were going to want some of their own questions answered too.

Does this new god have a name?" Tracey asked, pressing lightly for more information.

Artemis shook her head just a little and picked at her food, Amphiaraus leaned back and watched the pair for a moment. "Echthros, it means Enemy. Though what he might be the Enemy of is unclear as of yet." He watched as Artemis's face went a touch pale but she spoke calmly.

"With luck he's be the Enemy of suffering." She smirked a little.

"With any luck you'll be right Artemis, but when have we ever been that lucky?" Tracey asked glancing at her before looking at Amphiaraus again. "Where is Hercules now?"

She picked at her food and selected some fruit to be consumed while she waited for him to speak again.

"About a days walk. He asked me to go talk to the Oracle at Delphi, I was on my way back to give him her answer when I ended up here. He thinks there's something fishy about this new God, especially since there have been quite a few battles and disasters that preceded him."

Tracey considered this new information and sat back in her chair, her hands folded in her lap and her legs crossed over each other.

"I won't try to dissuade his thoughts and conclusions, but could it also be Ares throwing a tantrum?"

She thought back to the first time they were sent to Ancient Greece and figured he could have been bored and looking for something to do to entertain himself. Tracey did have to smile a little when she taunted him, it was fun and she'd do it again in a heartbeat if they were to meet up with any of the Gods and Goddesses in this Universe.

"Nonetheless this will have to be something we look into... But tomorrow morning, we've come a long way and need rest."

He nodded. "I will go speak to the innkeeper about a room then." He stood and Artemis walked to the door and let him out.

She turned to Tracey after she shut and bolted the door. "You know in all likelihood we won't ever see any of the gods here right?"

Tracey leaned forward until she could rest her elbows on the table and pushed some of the remaining food around on her plate with her fingers.

"Yeah I'm sure the only one we'll even get to glimpse will be Zeus and he'll be wondering why the hell we're back in his domain... If he is the same Zeus in this universe as he was in the other Ancient Greece and the last one."

She popped another grape in her mouth and chewed slowly.

Artemis sipped her wine. "I think the Ancient Greece we started in is a totally different universe from this one. I don't think we can play by the rule book we had back then."

"Then we'll have to be very careful here so we don't screw anything up." Tracey replied with a sigh, finishing her food. "I don't know what's my new skill set is here, but I have a feeling that we could be finding out soon enough. I was getting twitchy when we were in the common room and saw him staring at me and then again when you both came back to our room."

It was like there was an inner turmoil inside her that wanted to get out, but she had it suppressed it for now. Artemis nodded. "I have a hunch as to my own skill set, I was going to test my theory after we ate."

"Care to elaborate?" She asked, smiling a little more. "Think you still have your practitioner skills or something new?"

She looked down at her own cloak and body wraps and pinched them carefully. They were clean, but she didn't like how they covered just enough of her flesh to be decent but also left a lot of her skin exposed for her and the world to see. She figured it wouldn't be wise to change into anything else yet, at least not until she figured out what skills she possessed.

Artemis nodded. "I just need to figure out how to use them here. If I can do it with gestures or is it strictly verbal, or is it a mixture of that and tools etc. It'll probably take me a while to work it out."

Tracey nodded and gave her another smile, finishing her food and sipping on her wine a little at a time.

"Well we'll have plenty of time to test out all your theories before we leave tomorrow morning. I just hope we'll be able to get through the crowd without much trouble."

Artemis nodded and sat back eyes closed. She searched herself trying to get a sense of her power and held up a hand. Nothing happened so she twisted brought up her injured wrist wrapped in it cast and started twisting and weaving her fingers, that resulted in a few sparks that danced in the air around her but it still wasn't anything to write home about. She pursed her lips and started muttering as she wove and twisted her fingers. That got results at last, a tiny bird of flames flickered between her hands then around her head before finally snuffing out. "Can I borrow that little figure I gave you?"

"Of course, going to use it as a focus point?" Tracey asked, standing up and walking to her satchel as it lay on their bed.

She took a few moments to find it but then acquired it and brought it back to Artemis. Handing it over, she took a few steps back and leaned against the back of her chair to watch what came next, eyes curious. Artemis used a finger dipped in the wine to draw a circle then a few symbols around it and put the figure in the center. She started waving her hands, fingers twisting and weaving intricate shapes as she murmured and the figure grew, the stone became shimmering feathers and the figurine became a living bird that hopped around inside the circle. It made a cawing noise and hopped out of the circle only to fall on its side back to the original size and shape of the figurine. "Transmutation. I've never been able to do that before. It's all be shaped will up to now. In this world I have to use gestures, words and will. If I want bigger results I have to use more tools."

"Interesting and very enlightening." Tracey said softly, clapping her hands together and touching the figurine. "That was awesome. I would love to see what else you could do with the proper tools at your disposal."

She placed it back in the circle and wished that she could have the real Nargis again, but that would be next to impossible for her to have in this universe. While it was just them in the room, Tracey untied her gray cloak and draped in over her chair, getting comfortable and stretching out before falling back on their bed carefully. The bandage wrappings around her body rustled a little and she plucked at them again with a sigh.

"You know I have to wonder if Hercules has all of his company or not." She laughed, rolling over carefully and propping a pillow up under her chest. "Artemis, we'll get to meet The Rock... finally!"

Artemis laughed and dug her own journal out of her bag. "Just remember to call him Hercules ok?"

"Oh that won't be the hard part..." She mused, brushing her fingers over her lips with another smirk. "I bet you anything he really is built like a rock."

She wanted to call it a day and sleep the rest of the early evening away, but she wasn't tired just yet. Taking out her leather bound journal again, Tracey reread a few of the letters that Legolas had written her and then began to sketch a few of her favorite flowers she had found in both Lord Elrond's and Lady Galadriel's gardens. As the hours grew later that the noise from the common room died down considerably, Tracey drew herself a bath and slipped behind the reed screen stand so she could bathe in peace. The hot water left a burning sensation on her arms as she carefully cleaned the dust and dirt from her skin, but she didn't mind it so much and proceeded to finish with a final douse of water to her hair. Looking at her arms as she dried all the water from them, Tracey was glad that the scars were fading.

"Hey Artemis, would you mind helping me with the ointment and the fresh bandages before I pass out for the night please?"

She came out from behind the screen and dug around in her bag for the supplies that they needed to complete their task and brought them to the table. Artemis helped her with the bandages and handed her an antibiotic pill. "You have 4 more days on these." She reminded her.

"I'll make them last and then we might have to find something that works here or take these every other day to stretch them out a little more." Tracey said, popping the top of the small container and taking out a pill. "After this I'm passing out... you should too because the gods only know how much good sleep we're going to get before all hell breaks loose."

She secured the top on again and handed them back to Arty. Crossing the floor to the table, Tracey took up her wine glass and filled it with water before taking a mouthful and downing the pill. She stuck out her tongue to show that the pill tasted horrible and then downed another glass of water to wash the taste out of her mouth. Folding back the covers to the bed, Tracey pulled them over herself and fluffed up her pillow before settling down for the night and sighing happily.

"I think you should consider coming to bed too and soon Artemis, this mattress is stuffed with fluffy goodness and the pillows are perfect... good night."

"John got me a supply of them before we left." Artemis retorted. "I'll come to bed in a bit."


	3. Chapter 3

Tracey drifted off fairly quickly but her sleep was neither restful or pleasant as she began to dream. Darkness, it was all around Tracey while she slept. She tossed and turned fitfully and looked around wide-eyed in her Rem-cycle, her dream state to see if she could find anything that would shed light here and penetrate the darkness till it vanished and left her alone.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" She called into the darkness, receiving no answer until a cruel voice began to laugh from beyond the darkness. "Who's there?!"

"What wrong little girl... are you afraid of the dark?" The voice asked with a laugh. "Through all the hours of fun we had together, this was your weakness?"

Tracey looked around frantically now, wanting to find the source of the voice and then shut it up, but a cold shiver crawled over her skin and when she turned around her breath caught in her throat. Directly behind her stood Moriarty, his slender frame, his pale skin was tolerable, but his eyes were the stuff of nightmares. His eyes glowed red and hot, and his voice sounded playful and cold like a snake's scales slithering over dead leaves towards its prey. As she started to step back he grabbed her forearms in both hands and squeezed hard, bringing forth tears to Tracey's eyes and screams to her lips. The pain was intolerable and she was forced to her knees, all the while she tried to escape from his grasp.

"That's right Tracey... you will suffer even now. I won't let you get away just because you skipped town on me." Moriarty laughed, leaning down and bringing his face closer to hers. "I will always be here in the shadows, you won't be getting rid of me any time soon so get comfy my dear, I'm here to stay."

"Get away from me Bastard!" Tracey screamed, finding the strength to rip her arms out of his grasp.

She lunged forward and tackling him, taking him bodily down to the floor, straddling his waist with her knees and holding him down with one hand on his shoulder while the other came down in a fist to clobber him. That same urge that she had felt in the common room came back in full force and she couldn't fight it off anymore. A bright light surrounded her and she heard a thunderous growl from in front of her. Upon looking up she gasp and found herself looking into the yellow eyes of a massive timber wolf. The wolf's eyes dilated and it leapt forward into Tracy's chest where it vanished into light and she was rocked backward. Tracey quickly doubled over as a new pain spread throughout her body. She howled in pain as her bones cracked, muscles stretched and her form changed completely to that of the same timber wolf she had seen. When her transformation was finally completed she turned her yellow eyes to Moriarty and savagely tore into his flesh before he could do anything to stop her.

At the end of the ordeal, Tracey's muzzle was stained with blood and was her gray fur, now speckled with droplets of blood that splattered onto her when she bit into her prey's jugular and torn it open. She paced around the mauled corpse until a sudden force bowled her over and suddenly she fell. It felt like a sudden drop with an equally sudden stop and when she opened her eyes from her dream she was on the floor, the solid wood rough against her cheek, but something was wrong. She looked around and got up, everything was slightly taller than she had remembered it. Passing by a mirror she howled at the reflection in the glass and growled. It was her own reflection, but she was no longer human! She had shifted into a timber wolf in her sleep and things were slowly starting to go wolfish, if that could have been the right word for it. She looked around and hoped she could get Artemis's attention before she did something she would regret.

Artemis was asleep in the chair one leg draped over the arm her journal lying open in her lap totally unaware that Tracey had transformed. "Artemis! Artemis! I need help here!" Tracey said, though they came out in not words but in growls and sharp barks.

After a moment Tracey realized the she wasn't going to get anywhere this way and took a quick breath before slinking forward and whined a little while nipping at Artemis's pants leg. She shook her a little and tried to wake her up as gently as she could but all the while she left herself slipping a bit without knowing why. Starting to whine loudly and more pitifully, Tracey placed her massive front paws on the table and nudged Artemis's hand with her wet nose.

"Artemis wake up!"

Artemis jerked awake the journal sliding and she scrambled to catch it then yelped and swore seeing the wolf. "Holy fuck!" She scrambled back into her chair looking around the room for where it had come from then to the bed jumping up when she saw the bed empty. "Tracey?!"

"Yes... I'm here." Tracey barked, taking her paws off the table.

Unfortunately Tracey wasn't getting through to Artemis because she was starting to use colorful language now and she was worried that she'd start slinging around spells so she had to do something else to prove who who she was. She barked softly and bowed her head a little, studying Artemis before turning around and snatching up her satchel in her teeth and bringing it back to drop at her feet.

Artemis stared at the satchel then the wolf. "Oh shit." She whispered. "Shit shit shit… Tracey?" She ran a hand through her hair and sank down on the floor. "You're a wolf…. shit…"

Tracey sat down on her massive gray haunches and narrowed her yellow eyes at Artemis and whined a little, barking a little more so. She knew that she was a wolf and now Artemis did too. The biggest problem now was how they were going to get her back into her body. Tracey did realize that the bandages she was wearing when she went to bed were in a pile there and she knew in an instant that it was going to be just like New York all over again. She got the twitchy lips again and then looked back in the mirror that occupied the room and pulled her lips up to see her gleaming fangs. Growling a little, Tracey shook her head and closed her eyes tightly, turning back and laying on the floor.

"Help... me."

Artemis reached over and gently pet her ears. "Oh Tracey… How do we keep getting into these situations." She sighed and smiled a little. "Well at least you can be all your favorite animals. You like being a shifter. Now how to get you shifted back. Have you tried the way we used to do it in New York?"

Raising her head a little, Tracey shook her head and then got up on all four paws. She found her center of self and growled in pain as she morphed back into her normal human form and breathed heavily from the exhaustion. Shivers ran over her body and she huddled on the wood floor for a moment and then looked up at Artemis with a relieved expression on her face.

"Well that was fun... This just got a whole lot more interesting." Tracey said slowly, coughing a few times and grabbing for the bandages so she could wrap herself up again. "You think it could be all the animals I could change into or just the one? I guess we'll have to try that later because I don't think I could handle more than one or two changes a day unless it's really necessary."

Artemis helped her get wrapped up. "I have no idea. How did you even transform in the first place? You were human when I fell asleep."

"Moriarty was in my nightmare and I... saw the wolf and it merged with me and I... I, oh god Artemis I ripped his throat out for hurting me." Tracey aid, putting her head in her hands. "He said he's not going to let me stop hurting even though we've left."

She rubbed her eyes and blinked tiredly.

"Looks like I might have to ward my dreams again... That nightmare wasn't fun and I'm not looking forward to a repeat."

Artemis rubbed her back. "Warding won't work this time hon. Moriarty isn't like Dahok, he's not real here, the only power he has is in your head… You have PTSD and the dreams are the manifestation of that."

Tracey took a breath, shook a little with the cold shiver that went up her spine, and then got under the covers again and fluffed up her pillow.

"Then I'll just have to rip his throat out every time he decides to come back... but we might have another problem Artemis, there's something wrong, I can feel it. When I changed into the wolf, I felt myself slowly slipping... it's like I couldn't think like a person anymore. It felt like I could have been going wolf and it was a little scary, I was trying my hardest to be gentle when trying to wake you because I wasn't sure how much power or control I had over myself."

Artemis frowned a little. "That is alarming. We'll have to experiment when we're both more fully awake and can control the experiment." She stretched a little.

"I couldn't agree with you more Artemis and perhaps we should try tomorrow." She said, laying her head on the pillow and blinking slowly as sleep was starting to take her over again. "I'd hate to think we'd have to go to drastic measures to make sure everyone was safe, like tying me up every night like Hercules had to do for Thadeus."

Tracey curled in on herself a little and pulled the rest of the sheets up to her neck.

"I'll try to keep everything under control on my end... try to get some sleep Arty, we'll figure out what to do tomorrow."

Artemis smiled and crawled in beside her curling up and settling in.


	4. Chapter 4

She woke up to someone knocking on the door very insistently. She looked over at the window and groaned at the very early morning light filtering through the curtains. "I don't know why I bother trying to have a regular sleep schedule." She got up and stalked over to the door opening it a crack and peering out before closing it and resting her forehead against the rough wood. "Gods above and below it's too damned early for this…Tracey… I need you up. We have company."

Jolting awake at the mention of her name, Tracey's eyes dilated and glowed a faint yellow color before she looked around wide-eyed and startled. Her breathing settled down to an even rhythmic pace again when she saw it was only Artemis in the room and her eyes returned to their normal hazel color again.

"What's going on Artemis? Who's at the door?" Tracey asked, pushing back the covers and grabbing up her cloak to throw it around her shoulders and hide her bandaged body from sight.

She picked up her satchel and Artemis's and wrapped up the rest of their fruit in a clean linen before stowing it in her satchel for later. "Relax hon. We don't have to bolt. Amphiaraus is here and he brought some company of the very large and well built variety plus an amazon, a Spartan and Bard." Artemis pulled her boots on while she spoke.

"But why? We were going to meet up with them this evening." She said quietly, checking around to make sure that they didn't leave anything behind.

Checking the straps on their bags, she stated that they were secure before her hand started to shake beneath her cloak. She shouldered her satchel over her cloak and made sure nothing could be seen from beneath it.

"Ready to go?"

"Tracey. Stop. Put the bags down, sit down and relax. We're not going anywhere just yet ok?" Artemis put her hands on Tracey's shoulders and pushed her down onto a chair.

Tracey sat with a soft thud and shook her head.

"I'm sorry I'm just a bit jumpy... I didn't sleep very well after I want back to bed." She replied tiredly. "I get more anxious because of it... with luck I'll get some sleep tonight." She ran her hands through her hair and raked her fingers through it to brush it out a bit. Using her thumbs, Tracey pulled all the hair from over her ears into a ponytail and tied it off, letting the rest of her black hair cascade down to her shoulders. It was a bit messier than she liked, but it would do for now.

Artemis dug her brush out of her satchel and handed it to her as the knocking started up again. She walked over and opened the door. "Patience is a virtue." She remarked letting them all in.

"Not when there's drinking and wenching to be getting on with." One of the men retorted.

The massive man cuffed him gently upside the head. "Iolaus…" He warned and Artemis flinched a little.

Amphiaraus gave Artemis and Tracey a small bow. "Artemis, Tracey, this is Autolycus, Atalanta, Iolaus and Hercules." He motioned to each in turn and they nodded to the girls.

"Artemis… your parents must have been brave." Atalanta commented.

"Ignorant more like." Autolycus said with a smirk.

"They were neither." Artemis replied raising an eyebrow. "I named myself. Please, find seats if you can."

Tracey bowed her head slightly to them and got up from her chair and moved back to sit on their bed and let her hair out again and ran the brush through it. She repeated running her thumbs through her hair and tying is back, this time it was presentable and she packed the brush back in Artemis's bag.

'That was a sting for Artemis... this is going to be interesting for sure and I hope she has the strength to endure it.' Tracey thought, studying each of their faces closely. "The pleasure is ours to be sure my friends, we've heard much about you all and your labors Hercules. But you'll forgive me if I offend anyone here, but I thought we would be meeting everyone this evening Amphiaraus, not before."

"I had another vision… and there was an… unexpected…" Amphiaraus seemed at a loss and Autolycus finished the thought.

"There was a bloody brutal massacre and the mark of the new God Echthros seared into the ground and the foreheads of every corpse. Looks like this new God has a bone to pick." He pulled out a knife and started cleaning under his nails.

"Yes… In my vision it was made clear that Hercules must travel to the peak of Mount Olympus and seek the aid of the Gods. I saw him standing between you two as you stood atop the peak with a rising sea of flame." Amphiaraus sounded a little shaken.

"Well shit." Artemis said with feeling.

"That explains the urgency I guess." Tracey remarked from her place on the bed.

Her eyes immediately shifted to the knife in Autolycus hand as it's sharp blade glinted in the sunlight that came through the window. Slowly Tracey felt something rising from the pit of her stomach, trying to get to the surface, crawling under her skin and clawing at her muscles. She could feel her hands balling up and shaking, but she tried to stop it. Unable to tear her eyes away from the knife, Tracey's lips twitched as if she wished to peel them back and expose her fangs again, to snarl at him as he cleaned his fingernails.

"Please..." Tracey started, biting her bottom lip in a slightly nervous gesture as her eyes glowed yellow again and her pupils dilated. "Put that away... now."

Artemis glanced at her sharply then stood up and stood between her and Autolycus. She spoke calmly. "Autolycus, can you please put that away, slowly. Very slowly." She spoke in the same voice used for talking suicidal people of ledges and he raised an eyebrow but his instincts told him he should do what she said.

He very carefully put the knife away but Hercules had noticed the change and was shifting. "What is she?" He asked.

"She is my friend and she has been through a very traumatic experience. Startling her could have very bad results so let's all stay calm."

Iolaus gave a little laugh. "She's no threat to the mighty Hercules. Look at her, she's tiny."

Hercules sighed. "Don't be foolish Iolaus, Atalanta isn't much bigger and she's kicked you from Athens to Sparta and back again."

Amphiaraus was staring at Tracey as well. "There is a menagerie within her."

"That could prove useful for what is to come..."

Tracey could hear the beating of her heart throbbing loudly in her ears and she closed her eyes against it. Taking several deep breaths, she calmed her inner turmoil and her eyes returned to normal. She looked at Artemis first and nodded a little to show she was already starting to feel better. Looking to Amphiaraus when he spoke, Tracey sighed and looked at the rest of their faces.

"I apologize for my behavior, I'm not fond of knives." She started, glancing to Autolycus. "I'm slowly figuring out my condition and it will take some time, but Artemis and I will figure it out together."

"I think you should start explaining. Who are you and why is Amphiaraus so adamant that you have to join us on our journey?" Hercules crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Well you know our names so that's one less thing to explain." Artemis replied with a small smile. "We're not from here, not even close. We were summoned by the Gods, though we kind of thought we were on our own."

"Why would the Gods summon you instead of asking Hercules?" Iolaus asked looking offended and Artemis took a step forward. Hercules stood up but Artemis gave him a quelling look and for a split second he wondered what would happen if he tried to stop her.

She stepped in close to Iolaus looking up into his young face searching for any part of the man she loved in that other Ancient Greece but there was nothing of him in there. She held up her right hand, palm flat and writhed her fingers pushing her will through them and forming a flickering ball of lightning. He gasped and pulled back running into the wall. She followed him and brought her other hand up weaving her fingers together and the lightning transformed into a tiny whirlwind that blew his hair back and he looked over her head at Hercules who was watching them. Hercules shrugged as if to say 'You got yourself into this mess.'

Artemis spoke quietly. "You think that brute force will solve everything, you believe that sheer strength will prevail against all comers. It's a foolish, arrogant belief that is the privilege of the young. Your Uncle is smart enough to know when he is being fooled and humble enough to seek help when he is out of his depth. You could learn from that."

She brought the whirlwind a little closer and twisted her fingers until a butterfly formed of golden light fluttered around in her palms. "There are more skills and better options than just hitting your way out of a problem so why don't you keep your mouth shut and your eyes open. You might learn something boy." She had leaned up so she could speak in his ear and was so close he could feel her lips brushing his ear but everyone heard her words.

When she stepped back the butterfly was gone and Iolaus slumped against the wall. Autolycus smirked at her. "Can you teach me a lesson next?" He asked.

"I can't teach what you need to learn honey." She walked back to Tracey and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"You're stubborn in your own right and it would be easier to teach a dog better manners." Tracey said, shaking her head and laying her hand over Artemis's for a moment. "She is right, brute force can't always solve the problems we're presented with and sometimes it takes a calmer mind and a delicate touch to fix things. That's where we come into play and so I think it would be in your best interest to use our talents while they're available to you."

She touched her satchel and brought it closer to her.

"At least this time we have something more to go on instead of grasping at straws." She added, blinking tiredly. "We know we have to get to Olympus, we also know that you need our help, and now we know what the threat is so it's not a surprise."

"So how far a journey is it to Olympus?" Artemis asked.

"The time it takes to dream…" Amphiaraus said enigmatically.

"You've been at those herbs again haven't you?" Autolycus asked with an aggrieved air.

He blinked and shook his head. "I'm sorry, the visions are coming faster than ever. Maybe they were sent by the Gods."

Hercules sighed but answered Artemis. "It's about a week to get to the bottom of the Mountain. Reaching the summit is another matter."

"Please enlighten us a little more Hercules, we need to know what we're going to be dealing with." Tracey said quietly, glancing from Amphiaraus to Hercules. "The more we know the better we can help."

She shifted her bag on her shoulder, starting to get a little anxious to get moving again.

"There are seven temples at different stages of the mountain, each temple has a trial that must be completed before you can keep going. There's only been a handful of people who made it all the way up the mountain and no two accounts of the trials match." Hercules replied.

Nodding a little, Tracey stood up from the bed and shifted her bag on her shoulder, making sure her body wraps were hidden from their sights.

"Then Artemis and I should probably get some supplies before we get started."

"What kind of supplies? We've got plenty." Iolaus asked.

Tracey looked over at the young man and studied him for a moment before blinking and shaking her head.

"I don't think you understand little one, there are things that we need for Artemis and you may not have the right supplies that we may need." Tracey answered, gesturing to herself and Artemis. "We may need something that you don't have in your chariots and that's all I'm going to say on the matter."

Artemis squeezed her shoulder placatingly and moved towards the door. "I think it's best if you guys wait downstairs, I will go grab what we need and we can leave in a few hours ok? Tracey, stay up here, try to relax ok?"

"I'll try but I make no promises." She muttered, touching Artemis's hand with her fingers and sighing. "I'm getting itchy to go and I don't think it's going to stop any time soon so please come back within an hour."

Tracey relaxed her fist beneath her cloak and took a calming breath to steady her anxiety.

Artemis ushered everyone out and followed after them. Atalanta gave her a curious look then inclined her head towards the door. "Is she always so…"

"Twitchy? No, she's had a bad few days." Artemis spoke firmly then headed down the stairs effectively putting an end to the conversation.


	5. Chapter 5

She returned just over an hour later with a basket full of various items she thought would be useful on a journey to the summit of Olympus. When she tapped on the door three times she got no answer and felt a stab of anxiety. She shoved the door open and looked round but only found Tracey's cloak sitting on the bed in a pile, she set the basket down and pulled out a long dagger that she'd picked up along with the spell supplies she'd found. "Tracey?" She called softly.

There was no answer to the call of Tracey's name, but there was movement on the bed beneath the cloak. Slowly whatever it was made a quick motion as if the thing beneath the cloak was stretching and then slowly moved to the edge of the cloak and stopped there. Whatever it could have been seemed to have made itself comfortable again and refused to move. Artemis carefully lifted the cloak and sighed seeing the tiny orange cat curled up under the cloak. She sighed and shook her head scooping the cat up and scratching under her chin. "Oh Tracey…"

Tracey began to purr happily with every stroke of her finger under her chin and blinked up at her before looking around. She meowed softly and then looked at her reflection in the mirror and her ears stood up higher.

'Ah man!' Tracey thought, meowing louder and then jumped out of Artemis's arms and onto the bet again. 'Well don't I look adorable.'

Vanishing under the cloak again there was a soft glow from beneath it and then Tracey's head emerged from beneath it.

"Well I guess you could say I got a bit of a cat nap, but now I'm ready to go." She said with a smirk and tied off the last bandage and getting up. "Shopping was a success I see."

Artemis groaned and walked over to the basket and started packing things making sure nothing would break in transit. She pulled a long sturdy leather belt out of the basket and started modifying the basket until it had a pair of straps like a backpack and she shouldered it easily. "I picked up some spell components and totems. And a few other useful items." She handed Tracey a short dagger with a sturdy leather belt.

Looking at the sheathed dagger, Tracey's heart plummeted and her blood suddenly ran cold. She shook her head in confusion and grimaced at the hefty metal in her grasp.

"Why would you hand me this Artemis!?" She asked, looking at her in utter disbelief. "You know what I'm going through right now. This doesn't help me in the least to get any more comfortable with knives."

Artemis moved towards her and folded Tracey's fingers around the dagger, She held her fingers closed around it and pressed them tightly. "This is not a scalpel. This is a tool, a weapon and if you are threatened you will by the Gods use it to protect yourself because if I'm not there I cannot go through losing you again." Her voice was pitched low and she stared Tracey in the eyes. "Be afraid of it, that's healthy and natural but please, please don't let your fear make you a victim."

Tracey searched Artemis's face before looking down at the dagger and it's sheath in her hand and sighed, her shoulders wilting a bit.

"Only if I absolutely have to..." She replied, strapping it to her thigh and hiding it beneath her cloak. "I'm not planning on letting you out of my sight."

She picked up her satchel and looped it diagonally over her shoulder before pulling the cloak over it to hide it from view. Giving Artemis a slight smile, Tracey went to stand by the door to show that she was ready to go. All the while she tried to forget the fact that she had a knife strapped to her thigh and she wasn't comfortable with it at all.

Artemis looked around the room checking to make sure nothing was missing and nodded following her out. "I don't plan on being separated from you but we all know how well our plans go."

"Oh believe me I know it all too well." Tracey replied, shutting the door behind them and carefully making her way downstairs to the main floor.

Her bare feet made no noise on the wood floor and she pulled her cloak's hood up after finding the innkeeper and thanking him for their comfortable room. Slipping a few silver coins into his hand and then left with Artemis, picking their way through the crowds of people walking about the streets. Tracey's eye immediately picked out Hercules and his group waiting by their chariots and then Amphiaraus came forward when he saw them and smiled kindly.

Tracey noticed on their way out of town that the festivities had declined into an air of anxiety and worried anticipation. Like people who had been told that a huge storm was on its way and there was no way to evacuate. Amphiaraus had Tracey in his Chariot while Artemis rode with Atalanta. For the most part their travel that day was quiet, no one could talk much over the rattle and noise of the chariot wheel and the horses but as it grew closer to nightfall Tracey started to feel a crawling sensation up her spine and the urge to run on all fours started to get stronger.

Looking up to the rising silvery moon so far above them in the darkening velvet sky, she seemed to be drawn to its radiant light and was completely captivated by it. It's light shown brightly through the tree branches as they made camp and it wasn't until Amphiaraus touched her hand to help her down from his chariot that she realized she had completely spaced and apologized.

"I'm sorry... I didn't realized we had stopped for the night." She said quietly, clasping his hand lightly and allowing him to help her down. "Is there anything I can do to help set up camp?"

He shook his head. "I get the feeling you need more help than we do. Some demon haunts you."

"We all have our demons and we must deal with them in our own way and in our own time... I won't deny that something torments me in my dreams." Tracey said quietly after a moment, studying Amphiaraus's face before looking into his eyes. "But that is something that I am dealing with on my own and it's what I want, it's my business."

She gave his hand a gently squeeze before letting go hastily and grabbing her satchel from her side of the chariot and carrying it in hand to a fallen log where she put it down. Measuring a pace and a half from the log with her eyes, Tracey started to dig a shallow pit and lined it with stones while Hercules and his companions tended to their horses and chariots. In silence she surveyed her work before nodding her approval to it and got up to start for the tree line to gather dried wood and kindling for their fire tonight. As Tracey picked up pieces of kindling and carried back armfuls of wood to their campsite, moon light started to peek through the trees and dance over her skin. It illuminated it with a dull shine and the urge to run became stronger than ever. It almost brought Tracey to her knees upon her return, but she struggled to stay upright as she stepped back into camp and dropped the wood into an organized pile alongside the fire pit.

"Artemis, it's happening again and I can't stop it." She whispered hastily, grabbing her head as a headache started to throb in her temples and her eyes started to glow yellow and dilate. "I need to run around... I want to run for a while. Please help me."

Artemis touched Traceys face gently and looked into her face searchingly. "I can't stop it, and we shouldn't stop it. You could tear yourself apart trying to stop it." She pressed her fingers firmly against the marks on Traceys arm to bring her a little more fully to herself as she leaned in and whispered. "Let it go and when you're ready to come back think about Legolas, imagine him, every detail, his eyes, his hair, the way he smells, the feel of his skin. His lips against yours. Build him in your mind until you're sure he's here. When you can hear his heartbeat remember that he cannot hold you until you're human."

She let Tracey go and pushed her away kindly. "Now run."

"Thank you... Don't worry about feeding me, I'm pretty sure I'll find something." Tracey said softly and grimaced at the but then figured it wouldn't matter if she was in a predatory form, food would be food no matter how she looked at it. "Make sure they don't try to kill me if I come back with lord knows what stuck to me... and we'll change my bandages and take the antibiotics later too."

Glancing over at Hercules, Amphiaraus, Iolaus, Atalanta, and lastly at Autolycus before blinking owlishly at them, eyes glowing softly. She turned back to the forest and felt a sharp shiver up her spine before jumping into a run, heading for the shadows. As she got through the first line of trees and darkness, Tracey shifted to her speckled gray wolf form, her cloak, bandages, and sheathed dagger lying discarded on the forest floor. She or Artemis would return for them later, but for now the moonlight glinted off her fur as she headed deeper into the woods. The night wind rippled over her fur as her new keen yellow eyes picked out the tiniest of details. Finding a rocky outcrop pretty close to their campsite, Tracey could see the flames glowing and flickering now. There was a buildup of pressure in her chest and she stood up straighter on her massive Timber wolf paws and threw back her head, howling longingly at the brilliant orb above her.

'At least now Arty will know what I've changed into and hopefully my pelt won't get penetrated by Atalanta's arrows or Autolycus knives.'

Artemis folded the cloak and rolled up the linen wraps as she sat by the fire, everyone stared at her. "So what was that?" Autolycus asked eventually.

Artemis set the wrapping down and gave him a level look, the firelight glinted in her eyes the red light reflecting off her brown irises making them look bloody and he barely managed not to flinch. "I warned you that Tracey has had a bad few days. She's a shapeshifter. The Gods saw fit to give her the ability to slip her skin and run as an animal."

"That's just old wives tales!" Iolaus exclaimed. "Tall tales told to scare children."

"Like Hercules and his 12 labors?" She asked sweetly and he flushed. "Take it from someone who's actually met a God; they do the damnedest things with next to no reason for it."

"Is she dangerous?" Atalanta asked.

"Are you?" Artemis asked.

Atalanta shifted a little. "Point taken."

"I'm sorry if I'm being rude, we've been at the Mercy of the Gods for a long time now and I'm tired." Artemis rubbed her face with one hand.

"If Tracey has been… gifted… with shapeshifting what is your gift?" Hercules asked his hands working around a piece of rawhide.

"You saw me at the Inn. I'm a witch." She replied.

A shrill scream broke the silence and Artemis's head whipped around. Amphiaraus put a hand on her arm. "Just a rabbit, it sounds like Tracey found her supper."

He looked down at the leather encased cast around her arm and frowned. "What is this anyway?"

"Armor." She replied and started rummaging around in her satchel for food.

By the time Tracey came back from her run everyone except Autolycus had fallen asleep. Autolycus watched a massive wolf trot out of the dark into their campsite and had a knife drawn before he realized that it was no natural wolf and carefully put it back watching. Walking into the camp slowly on her massive paws from the darkness, Tracey's eyes scanned her surroundings and glanced at everyone's sleeping forms. She counted them, her ears flicking forward and backwards at the slightest sounds before she saw that she herself was being watched. Tracey looked at him for a long time before stepping around Artemis's sleeping form carefully and watching him the entire time.

'That's right... just sit there like a good little human and you won't get hurt...' Tracey thought, happy with the fact that she could still retain her human thoughts now that she was learning a few new tricks.

Tracey slowly opened her mouth, her white fangs visible as she moved closer to Artemis. The grey cloak and body wrappings Artemis had folded and placed beside next to her pallet was what she was going for and Tracey proceeded with caution, expecting Autolycus to draw out his knife again. She was greatly surprise when he didn't and just continued to watch her with his darker eyes as she clamped the items she required and dragged them off into the trees. Closing her yellow eyes and concentrating on being human and holding onto Legolas with her human hands again, Tracey's bones and muscles stretched and painfully they returned to normal. She watched as her hands shook a little when the body bandages were wrapped around her body and her cloak was fastened around her body again.

"I'm surprised at you Autolycus..." Tracey said quietly, not wishing to disturb the others and pushing her hair back out of her face, her eyes returning to their normal hazel color.. "I would have thought you would be asleep like the others..."

"We always post a watch at night, in shifts." He replied quietly. "Never know when something… dangerous… might come creeping out of the woods."

"And you'd be right." She answered softly.

Tracey looked at him and gave him a smirk before calmly opening Artemis's bag and pulling out her antibiotics, the scar reducing ointment, and new gauze for her arms. Unstopping a water skin carefully, she popped the top off the orange container and took out a pill to swallow with the water before putting the container back and sitting back on the heels of her feet. She applied the ointment to her arms carefully and Autolycus could see the scars that littered her skin just before she wrapped the gauze around her limbs and sighed in frustration when the knots wouldn't stayed secured.

"Why does this always need four hands to finish?" She growled quietly, nearly wanting to give up and put everything away in her pack again. "Pieces of crap..."

He came closer and took the ends and secured them deftly before leaning back on his heels and gave her a curious look. "With all the mystery surrounding you two I'm amazed we're this comfortable with you. It all seems a little strange, Hades the pair of you are the strangest women I've ever met and I've been trying to get in bed with Atalanta for years."

"Good luck with that little adventure. You should trust Amphiaraus and his visions, after all you all got through Hercules's twelve labors with the help of his visions so you should trust him now." Tracey said, raising an eyebrow and her smirk growing ever wider. "Thank you for helping me here."

She pointed to her arms before settling back against the fallen log and watching the fire burn for a while, her own thoughts consuming her for a while.


	6. Chapter 6

When Artemis woke the next morning at an obscenely early hour she was glad to see Tracey had made it back in one piece. She sat next to the dying fire wrapped in a blanket trying to bully her thoughts into making sense. Hercules and the other were milling about in what she considered frankly disgustingly good moods. Tracey slowly shifted under her cloak and blinked tiredly before pulling her cloak's hood over her head and rolled over away from the fire. She mumbled and curled in on herself, hoping that if she ignored the morning that it would pass her by and leave her alone.

"Do we have to be awake this early in the morning?" She asked, though her voice was muffled from under her cloak. "The only way I'm moving from this spot and going to get into full consciousness is if I run for a while... and not much will be making me do that."

Artemis dug around in her bag and came out with a small bottle of caffeine pills, she shook two into her hand and poked one under the cloak to Tracey. "I don't think they care hon." She muttered. "And needs must when the devil wakes you at dawn."

Tracey opened one eye and looked at the pill in Artemis's hand before taking it, muttering something about Hercules and his friends being the devils this morning and reached out for her water skin, drawing it quickly beneath her cloak. A moment later she was up securing her satchels and ran a brush through her hair, though it might not matter if she decided to change her form again. Pulling on the straps for a second time, Tracey looked around and watch the others backing their horses up to the chariots and strapping them in. She was amazing at how quickly they moved to get the campsite broken down and put away, but then again this was normal or them and they moved rather quickly to get everything put away and tied down.

"I don't even think I've ever been this awake in the morning." She muttered, looking at Artemis. "Did you at least sleep well?"

Artemis nodded and checked Traceys bandages. "These are looking better. We can wait a while to change them today."

"Agreed, I even had a little help from Autolycus last night when I came back." Tracey replied with a slight smile as she looked down at her bandages and flexed her fingers experimentally. "He's got some healing skills but I'm going to stick with you when it comes to the major injuries."

Standing up, Tracey didn't immediately strap her satchel across her shoulders and instead was captivated by the neighing of everyone's horses. She grinned at a sudden thought and then started to stretch her arms above her head and squatted down to stretch out her legs.

Artemis I'm feeling the need to stretch out a little bit... if you don't feel like standing in the chariots anymore just let me know."

Stepping out of their campsite and leaving her satchel beside Artemis's bag, Tracey disappeared into the tree line and didn't return for a moment. A sharp whinny erupted from the foliage and a massive black Frisian galloped back out, a gray cloak around it's neck and mane and tail flying free in the wind. Something bulky lay beneath the gray cloak but no one could be sure since it match the horse's body nicely. Neighing to the other horses before trotting a ring around everyone there, Tracey threw up her head and flung around her mane again before coming to a halt next to Artemis. She nickered and nosed at her cheek, blowing air into her face as if to say hello again.

Artemis grinned and stroked her nose patting her massive neck. "Go on you. Take a run I'll ride in the chariot for a while." She loaded the bags into the chariot and stepped in watching Tracey with a cheerful twinkle in her eyes.

She bobbed her head, the fly-away mane following her movements. With her tail high in the air and her ears forward, Tracey started her warm up exercises starting first with a few circles of trots and warming up all the muscles in her four legs for fear of pulling something. That wouldn't make her day if a big reason for running came up and she lamed herself because she didn't stretch properly. She loved how the wind blew over her body and the sun shined down on her and warmed her greatly. A playful whinny escaped from her and she pawed the ground with impatience, watching the final preparations being made before they got underway.

Artemis grinned as the horses pulling the chariots started dancing in their harnesses impatient to get going as well. When they finally left the campsite Amphiaraus started singing something lively and the others joined in as the sun rose higher in the sky. Tracey kept steady pace with the chariots, every once in awhile pulling ahead at an even canter. Her cloak rippled in the breeze and was blown back over her muscles shoulders and flanks. The steady thud of hooves on the ground was very rhythmic and almost settled in with Amphiaraus singing. Tracey kept pace with his chariot for the most part, finding a slight comfort in his voice which reminded her a lot of her biological father. Pacing herself to a steady trot again, Tracey looked up into the sky, eying the clouds and the sun, her nostrils flaring as the wind brought fresh air to her. It was cool and had a slight aroma of water.

'Water... that would be perfect right now and I'm pretty sure the other horses could use some too.' She thought to herself, looking to the chariots and their riders. 'Now to get Artemis's and Amphiaraus attention.'

Bunching her hind legs beneath her, Tracey pushed off from the ground and reared, pawing at the air and neighing. She bobbed her head again and angling off to the right of the chariots and heading into some tall, lush grasses toward the fresh scent of water.

Hercules and the others watched her go and glanced back at Artemis for an explanation, but she shrugged her shoulders and jabbed her index finger in the direction that Tracey had headed in. By the time the roaming group got to the lake, Tracey was already rolling on the ground, her legs kicking out and flinging dirt out everywhere. Standing again, she whinnied and shook all over, looking extremely pleased with her antics before heading into the water and wading about her knee high in the water and drinking deeply. The other horses wanted to follow her in, but their chariot harnesses didn't allow them to and Hercules, Autolycus, Amphiaraus, and Atalanta wouldn't allow them to either. They did, however, allowed their horses to drink and then they moved on.

The travel was easy enough though the road was really rocky and long. As the hours grew later and the sky darkened before everyone stopped for the night. Artemis and Tracey would help with set up, gathering of firewood, and collecting edibles for everyone. For the most part this was how they traveled for the week that it took them to get the the base of mount Olympus. It was all thanks to Iolaus's telling of Hercules's legend and the events that had transpired at his completion on his twelfth labor that frightened and deterred any and all thieves from following them or messing with them at all. On the evening of the last day, Tracey was laying on her black, her cloak wrapped around her securely and her eyes gazed at the twinkling stars above them. The other horses stood off on the edge of the camp within reach if need be and her stuff laid alongside her, but she took no notice of either of them. She was focused on the stars and lost in her own thoughts, her mind drifting back to Middle Earth and nothing else mattered to her.

'I wonder if he can see the same stars as me at this very moment...' Tracey mused to herself, her hands resting on her stomach.

At what Tracey guessed was two am Artemis came back from her turn at watch. She laid down with her head next to Tracey's and looked up at the stars as well. She pointed up at a particularly bright cluster. "What do you think that looks like?" She whispered.

Tracey's eyes were redirected to the cluster of stars Artemis pointed at and tilted her head in that direction to get a clearer view. She stared at them for a long time before shrugging her shoulders lightly.

"It could be just about anything... but since you want me to guess I would have to say that bunch of stars looks like an archer." She said with a light smile before pointing to another batch off to her right. "That group over there looks like a man fishing or someone who caught a rabbit."

Artemis smiled and pointed at another cluster of stars. "And those look like a bipedal rat…"

They spent a few hours finding stars that looked like various things until they both dozed off.


	7. Chapter 7

When they woke up the next morning it only took them half an hour to reach the first temple at the base of the mountain. It was a modest building, low stone walls with narrow windows and no door. Artemis stood regarding the building for a long moment her hands running up and down the strap of her messenger bag, her eyes had a far off look and her head was tilted to the side like she was listening to something. Amphiaraus had the same look on his face and Autolycus groaned. "There are two of them now…" He muttered.

"At least I know Artemis hasn't been into his stash of goodies lately." Tracey commented, smirking a little and shaking her head. "Artemis... Oh Artemis, do you have a solution to our dilemma here or am I going to have to fly around and scope out the place?"

She slowly waved a hand in front of her face and then poked her in the cheek.

"You're so lifelike..."

Artemis blinked and jerked batting at Tracey's hand then looked at her, her pupils were dilated so far that it looked like her iris had engulfed the pupil. "Only one of us can go in at a time… Seven travelers, seven temples, seven ways to die, seven hearts to make the trek and upon the summit fly. Seven challenges to test the mind, weaknesses in every heart to find." She swayed and Hercules had to grab her before she collapsed.

Amphiaraus looked sick to his stomach but his grip on his staff kept him upright. Tracey made a move as if to catch Artemis but was glad that Hercules was able to move faster than she could have. She was a little weirded out by the whole situation that it took her a moment to sift through everything that Artemis had said, or whether what something had said through her.

"Well this is all rather self-explanatory..." Tracey said, taking her waterskin and a rag from her satchel and dampening it so she could run the cloth over her skin. "There's seven temples and seven of us so we're each going to be chosen to play our part and if any amount of gaming in my world has taught me anything than we're all going to have to beat our challenges for any of us to move forward. Of course I didn't think that any of this was going to play to our strengths because that would have been far too easy."

Artemis shifted and groaned. "Who hit me?" She grumbled.

"Well that's a slight mystery to us at the moment my dear." Tracey tried to explain. "We don't know who just popped in to play The Riddler with your voice, but the message was clear enough, but you might get a headache soon. Any other questions because I have one because the Riddler didn't tell us who would be the lucky person would be to go first."

She shifted her satchel on her shoulder to a more comfortable position. Amphiaraus cleared his throat and they looked over at him. "Iolaus has to go first." He said. "I've… I've never had the Gods sound so clear in my head before… even in riddles they are faintly heard and harder to understand."

Artemis stood up patting Hercules arm which was almost as big around as her waist and rubbed her temples. "It was like a loudspeaker in my head."

"What's a loudspeaker?" Iolaus asked.

"Iolaus is not going in there alone." Hercules said motioning to the unassuming temple.

"Unfortunately that's not up for us to decide and I'm sure the Gods would try to stop us if we went in there with him." Tracey answered, pushing some black hair out of her face. "I would think that after everything that's happened that you would see Iolaus is ready for this."

Resting a hand on the younger man's shoulder and nodding to him in encouragement.

"You're ready for this, but you should still be careful."

He swallowed hard. "Are you sure Amphiaraus?"

Amphiaraus gave him a long considering look, his dark eyes looking ancient and tired. "It is not often that I do know for sure but this time I do. You must walk in alone and come out the otherside."

"I know you'll be fine." Tracey said with more encouragement. "As for the rest of us... I think we should try to figure out what our greatest weaknesses are and try to find a way around them. For example, Iolaus, avoid women and drinking."

She glanced at Autolycus and smirked.

"I think you should try to resist women, drinking and most importantly any gold that's offered to you or that you come across... Best of luck Iolaus."

Hercules watched Iolaus walk towards the temple before he gave Artemis and Tracey a hard look. "If he doesn't come back we are going to have a problem."

"Cool yourself Muscles..." Tracey replied, crossing her arms under her chest and turning to watch Iolaus enter the temple before slipping into her usual Elvish speech and didn't care how strangely her words sounded to the others. "Remain strong and steel your resolve, we're counting on you Iolaus."


	8. Chapter 8

At first when Iolaus entered the temple it didn't seem like anything special. A rough rectangular building with narrow windows. He turned in a circle and stopped short when he saw the door was just gone, a rustling noise filled the empty temple and he felt his stomach drop to his sandles. Slowly the room filled with color, with people and with music. As the scenery solidified he forgot why he was there, why he was alone in a crowd then he was standing on a stage with hundreds of people filling every space and they were all enthralled by him. Elation filled him, the more he spoke, the more stories he told the more they applauded, the greater the praise. He was the greatest story teller in history and the people loved him.

Until he began to run out of stories. He felt his heart hammer in his chest as he struggled to think up new stories, and it wasn't until he realized that he was repeating himself when he realized his mistake. He looked around at the restless crowd and felt his skin grow cold, the expected him to regale them, to entertain them and thrill them and he was failing. He closed his eyes desperately trying to think of another story when an image of his friends, of Hercules, Autolycus, Atalanta, Amphiaraus and even Thaddeus filled his mind's eye, the late nights around campfires when he entertained them with stories he'd made up during long days traveling. Of the nights when they all supplied bits of a story and told it together. He remembered his earliest fumbling stories when he was a small boy and how his Uncle Hercules had encouraged his tales, he had been inordinately pleased by his heroic uncles praise and had spent every waking moment for months after coming up with stories.

He opened his eyes and looked around at the irate faces demanding he entertain them and longed for the company of his friends, even for the company of the new women who were so unlike anyone he'd ever met. His mind spun wondering how he'd even come to be in this unfriendly crowd and it took him a conscious effort to recall how he'd gotten there and suddenly the crowd surged their faces turning demonic and the hands that grasped at him had vicious claws. He tried to get away from them but at every turn there were more and more of them and he retreated to the only place free of demons was the stage. He clambered back up and stared at the sea of monstrous faces.

He was at a loss for how to escape when he recalled the riddle Artemis had spoken when they reached the Temple. "How do I turn this around?" He wondered frantically.

The demons pressed in closer howling and he desperately ran through his options before thinking about his weakness, he pressed his hands to his ears and closed his eyes. "Seven challenges to test the mind, weaknesses in every heart to find." He mouthed the words before an insane idea occurred to him and he opened his eyes lowering his hands.

He started spinning a story, a story of a daring escape and as he spoke it began to happen, he cast himself as the hero of the story and as the story progressed the demons began to fade, he made his way through them still speaking until he reached the grand finale of the story and the door appeared. He threw himself desperately through the door and out into the morning sunlight. He turned to yank the door closed and stared at the expanse of open ground and his friends about 20 yards away.


	9. Chapter 9

Tracey saw the Temple fade away leaving Iolaus standing bewildered in the sunlight. Hercules saw it as well, he hadn't taken his eyes off the Temple while Iolaus was inside and he surged to his feet startling Autolycus and Amphiaraus. Atalanta and Artemis were sparring off to one side and didn't seem to notice. "Huzzah! Get that guy a wench and some wine." Tracey exclaimed with a smile on her face and clapping her hands. "Clever boy, see Hercules, I told you he'd be fine."

Hercules ignored her and hurried over to Iolaus who seemed confused. He looked up at his Uncle then at Tracey who had followed him. Autolycus and Amphiaraus had gotten Atalanta and Artemis's attention and they hurried along at the tail end. "Iolaus, what happened?" Hercules asked looking his nephew over.

Iolaus blinked. "What happened when?"

"Iolaus... you don't remember anything that just happened?" Tracey started to ask, looking slightly confused and then she looked to Artemis. "Why don't you think the Gods wouldn't want him to remember the ordeal he just went through? Perhaps to keep him from giving us any clue as to what we all could be facing?"

A thoughtful expression made her smooth skin contort with wrinkles that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Artemis patted her shoulder. "It's a test for all of us. It wouldn't be much of a test if we could cheat off the notes of the first person taking the exam."

Amphiaraus nodded. "As usual the Gods are generous with hints but lean on actual answers."

Iolaus looked at each of them in turn his face confused. "I remember entering the temple but how did I end up here?"

"You passed the test and the temple disappeared... that's really all that matters." Tracey answered with a smile and shrugged her shoulders while shifting her satchel on her shoulder again. "I guess with this small victory we should keep moving forward up the summit if no one has any more questions for Iolaus."

No one did and they gathered their things and started up the mountain path towards the next temple.


	10. Chapter 10

The Second temple was ominous in its appearance. A grand sweeping structure of some flat black stone with two huge braziers at the entrance crackling with green fire. Just standing in front of it made Tracey's skin crawl, it reminded her of the fortress where Artemis had been possessed by Dahok. She glanced at Artemis but if her friend felt the same she was hiding it. "So who's next?" Autolycus asked.

Amphiaraus eyes were transfixed and he spoke as though each word was being dragged out of him. "The warrior woman with the heart of a lion, tested in battle and bereft of people she will stand before her greatest foe."

Artemis raised an eyebrow and glanced at Atalanta. "I think he means you."

Atalanta snorted. "It could as easily be you, you're a warrior in every way that matters."

Artemis glanced at Amphiaraus but he shrugged and she sighed. "Let's both walk up and see who gets to enter the Fortress of Creepy Doom."

Before they could go in, Tracey quickly swept Artemis into her arms and held onto her for a long moment. She whispered into her ear to be careful if she was chosen.

"I can't keep trekking these worlds without you... I need you to come back to me."

Artemis gave her a little smile as she thought back to the deal she'd made back in London, she hadn't told Tracey about that. She squeezed Tracey gently. "Don't worry hon, you won't have to."

She walked towards the temple with Atalanta but when she tried to enter only Atalanta was able to pass through the door. Artemis walked back to Tracey and patted her shoulder. "Guess it's not my turn yet."

Tracey let out the breath that she didn't realize she had been holding and grasped Artemis's hand with a smile.

"I would've described you differently, though you do have a heart of a lioness." She said with a small laugh. "But you've got much more than that."

Artemis chuckled. "Yeah, I've got you. Come on, let's go make something to eat, I wonder if I can find any rabbits around here."

Tracey started to laugh quietly and then it grew louder.

"You stick to cooking the rabbits and leave the hunting to me." She said, her eyes dilating yellow as she grinned wolfishly at Artemis. "I'll have the better nose between the two of us anyway."

Suddenly Tracey's head and neck vanished from her cloak and it fell into a heap that started to move around until Tracey popped out in her grayish wolf form and looked up at Artemis. Peeling her lips back over her fangs, Tracey tried to smile to the best of her abilities in her wolf form, but she really came off as creepy. She trotted off into the underbrush and disappeared, using her nose to sniff out the scents of rabbit.

Autolycus swore briefly startling Artemis. "That's not natural." He grumbled.

Artemis laughed and he frowned at her. "Autolycus, saying that Tracey and I are unnatural is like saying water is wet. We were brought here by the Gods, what is natural about that?"

She knelt down and started piling firewood in neat little pyramid. Autolycus glanced up at the sky and sighed, it would be dark soon, it had taken hours at the first temple and then hours more to get to the second one, Gods alone knew how long it would take Atalanta to come out of this temple. He watched Artemis as she whispered a word and the fire roared to life without her having used flint and steel. He swore again and the others looked over, they gathered around the warmth of the fire and Hercules gave his friend a concerned look but Autolycus shook his head.

The dying squeal of Tracey's second kill wrent the darkening sky as she snapped its neck in her tight jaws. She hadn't realized that she had been gone for so long, the thrill of the hunt and the smells of nature filled her nose and excited her greatly. Tracey picked up both rabbits in her mouth, disregarding the slight trickle of blood running down her chin and trotted off quite pleased with herself. She ducked under some final brush as she came to it and walked into camp, depositing their dinner down beside Artemis, looking up at them all and tilting her head to the side and blinking.

'Look! Look! Look what I caught! Be grateful humans for without me you would starve!' Tracey's look seemed to say as she began to wag her tail. 'Dinner is served.'

Artemis smiled and scratched her ears for a minute then leaned down and picked up the rabbits before producing a wickedly sharp little knife and set to work cleaning them. Hercules produced a pot and some water and Amphiaraus brought a handful of vegetables from his pack. After setting the skins aside Artemis started carving the meat from the bones and laid it on the extremely hot rocks beside the fires where they sizzled and made smells that set Tracey's mouth to watering. She noticed in a strange abstract way that Artemis had a smear of blood on her cheek. Tracey studied the smeared blood on Artemis's cheek for a moment before whining softly and then got up, carefully moving around her to nose her cheek with her wet one. Gently licking her skin free of the red substance, not that it was awkward in any way seeing as she was still in wolf form, Tracey surveyed her work and then sat back down beside the fire, looking into the flames of the campfire and watching them dance. Her large and bushy tail was curled around her paws and her ears twitched at the crackling flames as they moved.

'I wonder why Atalanta isn't back yet... I hope nothing went wrong.'

Artemis had wrinkled her nose at being licked but she seemed unconcerned as she started making a thick stew. A companionable silence fell around the campfire while she cooked and the sun dipped ever lower behind the horizon. It was nearly dark before Artemis tapped Tracey's haunch. "Legolas." She murmured softly.

For an instant Tracey's eyes changed back to their normal hazel color and she quickly snapped up her cloak, vanishing beneath it. The movement from under the fabric was unmistakeable at Tracey's normal human transformation occurred and her head popped up from the hood again. She sat in such a way that she could tie her bandages underneath her cloak without exposing any of her bare skin and then settled on her side, her head resting in her palm.

"That smells great Artemis, you could give your Grecian man a run for his money... and so could I for that matter." She said with a soft laugh and then laughed a little louder. "Sorry for licking you boss, I didn't think it would be that bad. It could have been worse if I licked you as I was now though."

Artemis laughed and doled out bowlfuls of the thick stew. "Yeah that would have been way more awkward."

"Hold on, what Grecian?" Iolaus asked.

Artemis started to answer but the Temple a handful of yards away vanished suddenly leaving Atalanta standing in its place looking a little the worse for wear. Hercules leaped up and trotted over to her followed by the others but Artemis stayed in her place by the fire. Tracey sat up and watched as their company returned with Atalanta before she popped the stopper from a waterskin bag and handed it to her, directing her to drink and rest now. She took her bowl of stew and handed it to Atalanta, wondering what ordeal she had just gone through. Somehow Tracey didn't think they'd be able to get anything from her because she wouldn't know anything about what happened to her like Iolaus had. Taking another bowl of stew for herself, Tracey sat back and ate quietly while the others looked her over and tended to her cuts and bruises.

"You should be okay with a hot meal and plenty of sleep tonight Atalanta." She said soothingly and with a gentle smile.


	11. Chapter 11

Atalanta passed through the doorway of the temple and looked around. She took a deep breath and drew her short sword hefting it nervously as she looked around. The walls were slick black stone, a handful of braziers burned in the corners illuminating the space and she saw at the far end a low altar made of the same stone as the walls. Her heart pounded as she approached the altar, she wasn't much for praying but she didn't think this was an altar for praying. She saw a mirror imbedded in the wall behind the altar, she hadn't noticed it before since the reflection it showed her was of the room and its lack of distinct features. She noticed more mirrors standing unsupported on and around the altar as as she approached them they all showed her reflections of herself, but not as she knew herself to be.

In one she was a girl of twelve dressed in training leathers a wooden sword in her uncertain hands, another showed her in a soft grecian gown she knew she'd never worn her face unlined and her hands soft, still another mirror showed her with a babe at her breast and another pulling at her skirts. Image after image of lives she'd never live, pasts that had never been and futures that could never be and they all looked out at her with demand in their eyes… her eyes and one by one they began to step out of the mirrors to surround her.

"You stole my life." The twelve year old her spoke angrily.

"You stole my life." the mother her spoke hefting the toddler up onto her hip.

"You stole my life." They spoke as one in voices that she knew as surely as she knew her sword. "You stole my life. You stole my life, you stole my life."

She backed up and that turned out to be a mistake. They surged forward and she struck out at them and felt the sting of the blade cut into her own skin. "We want it back! Give us our lives back! Give it back!"

She panicked and swung wildly trying to keep the small crowd of herself at bay and blow after blow struck her own flesh. She staggered panting and the crowd closed in demanding she give back their lives, give back the pasts, the futures that her actions had changed irrevocably. She screamed and the crowd screamed with her and her head rang with it, rang with the hundred of choices she could have made differently, the dozens of possible paths she could have taken and the myriad ways her life could have gone. 'No… that's not right… it's not right. I have a good life, a purposeful life.' Her pain hazed mind managed to get that clear thought through and she saw a handful of the possible hers vanish.

She got to her feet and wondered numbly when she'd fallen, she unsteadily sheathed her sword and winced as she pulled herself upright. "I stole nothing. It is my life and I have lived it well. I have friends," Another her vanished. "I have Family," The mother her and the babies vanished. "I have glory," More vanished. "I have purpose and honor and pride." More and more vanished until only the version of her as a bent bitter crone remained.

"But you do not have your Sisters." The Crone her spat and Atalanta felt her heart squeeze painfully.

She'd been exiled after Hercules helped her solve the murder of the royal Amazon Family, she had solved the murder but in accepting help from a Man she was excommunicated from her sisterhood, a loss she still felt keenly. She quailed under the angry gaze of the Crone and the Crone spat accusations at her. "We will die alone, we will die shriven and cast adrift in a world of men, the Rites will go unspoken and we will never rejoin our honored sisters. Eternity cast adrift!"

For some reason she thought of Artemis, the strange woman with her dark eyes and tattooed skin who fought like an Amazon and spoke like a philosopher. She thought of Tracey who was suffering some hurt of the mind and the bond the two held. She thought of her bond with Hercules, Autolycus, Amphiaraus and Iolaus, men who had stood by her, who had given her purpose and treated her as an equal, not as a woman. She missed the Amazons, missed the familiarity of women who were like her but she knew in her heart even if she was welcomed back she'd never be able to go back, she had changed too much, seen and done more than any other Amazon. "I will die surrounded by Family, by Friends, by my Brothers in Arms who have guided and guarded me all these years. I may have to ride the Ferryman's Boat alone but I will never be truly alone so long as they hold me in their thoughts. Be gone Crone, your poisoned words will find no fertile soil in me." She spat the last words and turned her back on the Crone who vanished, she was swaying on her feet as the Temple vanished and Hercules was suddenly beside her.

She couldn't for the life of her remember why she was battered and bruised though. She remembered entering the temple but all she could remember of it was a bunch of mirrors and everything got clouded and confused in her mind from there.

The others followed except Artemis who was sitting by Tracey, Artemis watched her with understanding eyes and Tracey offered her food and water which she accepted gratefully. She took comfort in the men around her, and the two new women as the fire warmed her, she eventually drifted to sleep to the sound of Iolaus telling some story that had everyone laughing.


	12. Chapter 12

Tracey dreamed that night, only she shouldn't have been dreaming since she was supposed to be on watch and she didn't recall falling asleep at all. But it had to be a dream, she was surrounded by glittering fireflies and the moon rose full and cold over the mountain, she could smell moon flowers on the air. Her hazel eyes darted around at the flowers, the mountains and the moon, her eyes almost transfixed on the moon and its brilliant light. Its rays shone down on the moon flowers and illuminated them beautifully. Tracey looked down at herself, hoping that if this was in fact a dream that she would at least be back in clothes she recognized, but was sorely disappointed. She had hoped that since she was in a wide field of moon flowers, the last flowers she had seen when she was in Lothlorien, that her clothes would reflect those of the She-Elves too. Tracey's cloak hung about her bandaged body and she sighed, poking her feet gently at a cluster of moon flowers at her feet.

"Why am I still tortured by my dreams?" She wondered aloud, not knowing if she would ever be enlightened. "At least this one is somewhat comforting."

"You miss it so terribly. It is a weight that drags you ever down." She heard a soft feminine voice muse from a few feet away.

When she looked she saw a tall female figure swathed in a dark cloak, hood pulled up high around her face but a pair of green-gold eyes glittered from the dark interior. "How can you stand it, it drains you day after day sapping your spirit."

Turning on her feet to face the newcomer fully, Tracey eyed the woman from head to toe, tilting her head to the side in silent judgment before answering her question slowly and carefully. She didn't know who this woman was and she didn't like how she just appeared without any noise to announce her presence.

"There are days it gets to me, but on other days where it's not so bad." She said, her hand resting on the sheathed dagger at her thigh to make sure it was still there. "Before we continue to converse I want to know who you are and what you're doing here in what I suppose could be a dream."

"Perhaps not a dream… I don't walk in dreams but you seemed in need of comfort. Some sense of familiarity, I found this at the fore of your mind." The woman leaned down and plucked a flower and Tracey watched it disappear as if it had never been. "Such a fragile thing."

"There are many things that I think about and many things that are fragile, but you still haven't answered my question... who are you?" Tracey said, her fingers encompassing the hilt of her dagger now, slightly hesitant to use it.

"I'm less a Who and more a What." The woman replied tucking her hands inside her sleeves. "I am Doubt, I am Consideration, I am the Second Thought that plagues you at night. I am many things and nothing. Don't overthink it, you'll give yourself a headache."

Tracey's lips quirked into a smirk and she shook her head, letting her hand drop from the hilt of her dagger. She crossed her arms under her chest and shifted her weight to her left side.

"I stopped trying to over-think things since I first started dealing with the Gods in Ancient Greece on my first visit." Tracey replied before a thought flitted through her thoughts. "Do you make anything appear or just what you think would comfort me?"

"Just the surroundings." The woman replied and took a few steps closer though it didn't make her face any easier to see.

Uncrossing her arms from her chest again, Tracey replaced her hand on the hilt of her dagger, slightly tensed at her slow approach. Though the woman didn't seem to pose as a threat, she would be damned if would let anyone jump her again. After what happened in London and the kidnappings in Ancient Greece and in Middle Earth, Tracey wouldn't be caught unawares this time.

"Are you my Doubt?" She asked slowly, narrowing her eyes at the woman a few paces in front of her.

"Perhaps. Do you have many doubts?"

"We all have doubts whether we realize it or not." Tracey replied vaguely. "Even I."

"Indeed, mayhap we will visit them another time." The woman's form began to waver along with the moonflowers and the luminous moon leaving Tracey alone by the fire in the still night.

"Oh I have no doubt about that." Tracey mused softly to herself, a smile on her lips as she blinked at the flames of the fire. "No doubt about that at all."

She laughed softly to herself, finding the irony in her words and guessing she would meet the strange woman again, perhaps in whichever temple she was to enter. It wasn't something she would worry about right now and absently Tracey gazed around at the other sleeping forms around the fire then to the horses on their picket lines. She drew her cloak closer to her body and sighed heavily, the wind rustling her hair. Sniffing the air lightly, she surmised that dawn wasn't too far off.

Autolycus woke and took his shift on watch, she curled herself close to Artemis who seemed dead to the world, when the camp started waking for the day Tracey considered telling Artemis about her visitor. Mopping her face with a cool, damp rag and running a brush through her hair quickly before typing it back again, Tracey started to secure her satchel while she spoke.

"I had a visitor last night... nothing to really worry about though I think." She said quietly, looping the strap over her head and settling it diagonally across her back and chest comfortably.

Artemis glanced over at her, her hands going still on the straps of her basket; she nodded once. "This mountain… it gets into our heads. I'm not really surprised you were visited."

"Am I right when I assume that you've been visited too Artemis?" Tracey asked, looking into her soft brown eyes. "It could be a hint to what our task may hold for us but I could be wrong... like you said, this mountain is getting to us."

Artemis shook her head and looked up the mountain where soft mist was still gathered low to the ground, the sun hadn't quite burned it away yet. "No… The Gods are as silent here as they have been in almost every other world. This Mountain is a Test, to see who is worth to speak to the Gods, so far it doesn't look like I am."

"Amphiaraus then perhaps? He seems to interpret their will well enough." Tracey stated quietly with a shrug of her shoulders. "If not him or you then I would think Hercules since he is the son of Zeus.

Everyone was packing up their things at a steady pace so there wasn't much else for her to do help with other than to shuffle dirt over their smoldering embers until they went out.

"I guess we'll find out soon enough."


	13. Chapter 13

Their trek up the mountain reached a point where the chariots could not navigate the rugged terrain and they had to leave them behind, even the horses would have trouble with the trail and Hercules hobbled them to a long line between a pair of short stubby trees where they had easy access to the scrubby grass and a small stream that trickled down the mountain. They made their way on foot to the third temple, a shimmering gold edifice with marble lions crouched at the door and carvings of such intricate beauty they almost seemed to come alive on the golden surface. Amphiaraus stared at the temple for so long Artemis actually sat down to wait before he looked at Autolycus. "This one is yours I think."

Autolycus smirked and tucked his knife back in his belt. "I like the shiney ones."

Tracey let out a light laugh and shook her head at Autolycus.

"Try to stay focused will you? And try to resist the urge to stuff your pockets with every piece of shiny that you get close to..." She said, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "You'll have a hell of a time walking up the rest of the mountain with it weighing down your pouches."

"Madam, I am always focused. Just not usually on what you might think is important." He winked at her and walked to the temple and vanished inside while everyone else settled down to wait.

Artemis started pulling things out of her basket, herbs, stones and little bits of things were soon spread in a semicircle around her as she ran her hands over them her eyes half closed and unfocused. Iolaus watched her warily. "What's she doing?" He finally asked softly.

Tracey looked up from her leather bound journal and pen she had pulled from her satchel to write in and watched Artemis for a time too. She studied the items on the ground around her and then gave a soft shrug of her shoulders.

"I can't say for sure, but it is a spell. Not one that I recognize mind you because I've only been a part of one spell so far and that was a money spell. The normal one we use when Artemis and I go to our conventions to sell the crafted items we make." Tracey replied, starting to scribble in her journal again and singing softly in Elvish for a time. "Artemis, will you educate us a little on what magic you're weaving now?"

Artemis lowered her hands to her lap and frowned at the spell components in front of her. "I was trying to reach out to the New God but it's like there's a wall there."

She shuffled things around on the ground adding new items, taking some away. Tracey looked up from her writing again and gave Artemis a confused look, her brow furrowed.

"Why would you do that on purpose? Obviously this new God has a beef with mortals and if that is the case and he's slaying people needlessly then what makes you think he won't try to slaughter us without a second thought?"

Artemis picked up a little pewter charm and rolled it between her fingers. "I don't think he can right now, at least not this group of mortals on this mountain. Not without pissing off the rest of the Gods."

"You have a point there but still, but why do you have to test the theory?" Tracey said with a slight grimace. "Perhaps Olympus is putting up the wall to keep you from getting through to the new God instead of the the new God keeping you away."

It was somewhat of a rhetorical question, but she would have preferred to let things be until they got to the top of the summit and figured out what was going on. Artemis nodded and started packing up her components. "Perhaps. In any case I've had zero luck. Anyone want to see me pull a rabbit out of my basket?"

"You can do that? Hercules asked curiously.

Artemis laughed and finished putting away her toys. "No… its a joke."

"If she could pull a rabbit out of her basket then she wouldn't need me to go hunting for us." Tracey said with a laugh and a shake of her head. "Her specialties lay elsewhere."

With a smile directed to Artemis and another laugh, she went back to her journal and started humming again.

Hercules watched Artemis carefully, she seemed so unassuming, Tracey was the stranger looking of the pair and he had assumed the more dangerous given her abilities and her standoffish nature but he'd watched Artemis spar with Atalanta. She was a fighter and used to taking care of herself though she favored her right arm. He wondered at the bulky bracer wrapped in leather, she never took it off and he was wondering if she even could, she always took great pains to keep it dry too. And now he had cause to wonder what else she was hiding, she was a sorceress, he'd met a few of them and they were always half mad and dangerous as a coiled serpent.

He glanced at Amphiaraus who was staring in the direction of the temple and sighed softly, there was no help to be found there, Amphiaraus would tell him that the Gods worked in strange uncanny ways and they were usually not understood by mortals until it was all over. He glanced at Atalanta who was sharpening her sword, she wouldn't be any help either, she was a straightforward sort, see the threat, take it out, clean up after and Iolaus wouldn't be much help either, he told a good story and was becoming a decent fighter but lacked the experience to glean deeper motivations. And since Autolycus was in the temple he was out of options but he was a patient man, his greater size and strength meant that he had to move more slowly, think things through more carefully, be more cautious and while some in the past had mistaken his slow deliberation for idiocy he was still alive and they mostly weren't.

He felt someone watching him and looked over to see Artemis settling next to Tracey a leather journal in hand but her eyes were fixed on Hercules and her dark eyes seemed to see right into his mind, she nodded once and turned her eyes to her journal.

The sun had reached and passed its zenith when the temple vanished and Autolycus staggered towards the camp looking like he'd been hollowed out. He staggered to them collapsing to his knees and taking fast shaky breaths.

Tracey took a moment to study him over before putting her journal back in her bag and taking up her waterskin and handing it to him so he could drink. She looked him over to make sure that he wasn't bleeding or hurt and found him just to be shaken. It was something that she supposed she could look forward to after her encounter with the temple and had to cheer for all of them because they had three out of four victories under their belts, but she wasn't going to jinx them just yet.

"Take a few minutes to relax and then we'll head to the next temple." Tracey said quietly, looking over to Hercules and giving him a nod.


	14. Chapter 14

Autolycus strode into the temple head high with absolutely no concern. He considered himself a man of conviction, a man who understood himself and his strengths and weaknesses and had little to fear from any mind game. The temple walls rose high and golden around him burnished to a shining reflective surface but the room was completely empty. He looked around the room expectantly and paced the length of the temple before sighing. "This is a waste of time."

"These things usually are." a voice… his voice… said from behind him and he spun to face his twin.

He raised an eyebrow and his twin did the same. "So what… you're supposed to reveal some deep inner truth, or reveal some dark twisted desire?"

"I don't have to. You already know all your darkest desires and the deepest truth about you is that you're a greedy, gold loving, manipulative thief with delusions of mattering and you know it."

Autolycus smirked and held his hands spread out to his sides. "It's the truth."

"It's not even close."

Another Autolycus stepped up. "I am the truth of your loss. The loss of purpose, the loss of direction, I am the truth of the loss you hide under mountains of gold."

Another Autolycus stepped up. "I am the truth of your anger. Anger at yourself, anger at your sentiment and desire."

Another Autolycus and another and another all speaking the truth of themselves, truths he hated, truths he feared and truths that made him so angry he could barely see straight until he screamed in fury and pain struck out at them clearing a small space around him. They all fell silent and he panted for breath feeling like someone had rubbed him raw with sand. "My Truths! Fuck my truths! Everyone has these truths and everyone learns to deal with them. I've learned to deal with them! I'm not fucking special and it doesn't fucking matter because I don't fucking matter!"

They stood in silence around him and he ran his hands over his face trying to calm his erratic heartbeat. One by one they began to vanish until only one was left and he glared at it. "So which one are you?"

"The one you ignore the most. Belonging."

He felt like he'd been punched in the gut. Belonging kept talking his voice cool and quiet. "You remember how it felt when you were in the Spartan Army, you had purpose and direction and comrades and then along came Hercules, he made you feel like you were part of something bigger. You and Hercules against the world. And then you left the Army with him, still you and Hercules but now you could name your own price. Then came Thaddeus, basically an animal, you were ok with that and then he joined the Argonauts but just as a crew member, it was still you and Hercules with Thaddeus tagging along. You met Amphiaraus and suddenly it wasn't just you and Hercules. Then came Atalanta and finally Iolaus, people you barely knew but one by one they filled the void in Hercules and you wondered if you had any purpose anymore. Then you abandoned him in Thrace, left him to face Lord Cotys without you. And even though you came back you wonder if you'll ever belong again."

He swallowed hard and felt his heart hammering in his throat and he had to acknowledge that since this Autolycus was here it was part of him, part of his inner truth. He thought about it for several minutes before shaking his head. "You're right, I don't know if I'll ever belong again, or even if I really want to, if I even deserve to. But I have to try."

Belonging vanished and so did the temple around him.


	15. Chapter 15

It didn't take Autolycus long to regain his strength and they started up the narrowing track. Night fell before they were anywhere near the next temple and Hercules shifted some boulders to clear enough space for a safe camp site though it was a little perilous as it hugged the mountainside and the night wind brushed and teased them. As the night fell Tracey could see lights far below of the tiny villages they'd passed on their way to the mountain. The firelight was a warm pool in the dark and the murmur of voices added to the intimacy.

The heat from the fire warmed Tracey completely, put her at peace with everything around her and made her sigh quietly more than once. Her mind began to wander as it normally did when she stared off at nothing. It was scenarios like this that she liked to share with her Elven lover and it was times just like this that she missed him more than ever. With another sigh, Tracey looked down at her forearms and undid the bandages, tracing portions of it with her other fingers before her mind started to wander back to London. The light in her eyes grew dimmer as she continued to stare and contemplate the scarred flesh.

"How am I going to explain this to Legolas?" She asked herself quietly and in Elvish. "What is he going to think if I ever see him again?"

Blinking and averting her gaze away from her arms, Tracey stared into the fire again and clasped her arms at the elbows.

Artemis leaned over and took her arm gently and examined the scars. "These have healed well. You can forgo the bandages now if you want. And you've finished the antibiotics."

Taking back her arms, Tracey nodded and shrugged.

"They've healed just as well as I had hoped, but I want to scars to fade to the point that they're next to invisible." She replied, putting her chin in her palm and resting her palm on her knee before speaking again. "I don't know what I would tell people if they asked about the scars... I don't want them to think I'm a cutter."

She spoke quietly and glanced around at the others, not really caring to share her conversation with them if she didn't have to. It didn't concern them and nothing they did could change what was in the now. Artemis gave her a sympathetic look. "They'll never fade that much honey, it'll be years before they stop being a noticeable dark pink." She held up her own arm and tapped the scar which was a flat shiny deep pink. "This was much deeper and I didn't have mederma to help the healing process so this will always be noticeable but even after nearly a year of doing all this it's still this dark. Yours will fade but it's gonna take time. Until they fade a bit if anyone asks give them a flat stare and don't answer. Most socially well adjusted people will get flustered and stop asking, anyone who doesn't you can be rude and scathing to with no guilt. Or do what I do sometimes and make up something totally outrageous and see how far you can get them to believe it."

"That could work..." Tracey answered slowly and shrugged her shoulders a little. "I guess that will be something I'll figure out if and when something about my arms comes up in conversation."

Rolling out her blanket and pulling out a hunk of bread and her journal, she picked at the bread and reread many of Legolas's entries again. She had memorized all of them and traced the flowing script of his writing, wishing that she had the same skill of handwriting as him.

"If I'm not taking a watch tonight then I'm thinking about turning in early tonight."

Artemis kissed the top of her head and stood up. "I've got this. Get some sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Tracey found herself walking through the Factory. Grit and glass crunched under her boots and weak sunlight filtered through the filthy windows. She could hear traffic faintly outside and the scent of the Thames lay over everything. It was visceral and real and left her gasping at the fear and anger and pain that ripped through her. She turned a corner and saw the chair sitting under the overhead light, the rolling tray of surgical instruments sat nearby. The room narrowed until the chair and the tray of instruments were all she could see.

"Pleasant memories ducky?" Moriarty's lilting voice teased right in her ear from behind.

When she spun around she was alone and his voice echoed through the room laughing at her. "Oh come on pet, you can't tell me that wasn't the most alive you've ever felt when you were inches away from death." His voice was behind her again and she lurched away only to trip and fall into the chair.

He laughed again and she felt her arms burning with fresh cuts. "Each line so clean, so straight and your life slipping away a drop drop drop at a time."

She was shaking and then she realized it wasn't fear or anger making her shake, her body was literally being shaken and she snapped awake with Iolaus leaning over her, shaking her. Crying out in fear for her life again, Tracey's eyes snapped open, dilated and turned completely black as everything went blank and she attacked out of self-preservation. She swept her arm out and knocked him back from her, rolling with him until they stopped a little ways from their campsite and she straddled Iolaus's waist. One of Tracey's hands was spread over his chest to keep him from moving while her other swiftly unsheathed the dagger at her thigh and held it against his throat. The dust that was kicked up from their tumble scattered around them and settled slowly.

"You don't belong in this world! Leave me alone and die!" She snarled, slipping completely into her Elven tongue and making it no longer sound pleasing to listen to.

Tracey's hold on the dagger's hilt was so strong that her knuckles turned white and she started to give way to the need to kill the person who tormented her the most at this very second. Flexing her nails into the fabric of Iolaus's shirt to keep him in place, Tracey withdrew the knife from his throat and posed it over his heart, drawing satisfaction from the fearful look in his eyes because it was the same fear she hid from Moriarty when he was torturing her.

"I will have the peace I deserve..."

She was only vaguely aware of shouting around her and she was suddenly wrenched away from Iolaus and thrown bodily to the far side of the campsite. In mid-flight, Tracey lost her hold on her dagger and she thudded hard against a rather large boulder, becoming winded. She shook her head to dispel her clouded vision and gasped for air after it was forced from her lungs. Recovering quickly, Tracey looked up and bared her growing fangs at everyone in front of her, seeing only Moriarty's face instead of her friends'. She suddenly shed her cloak and shifted into a massive black tiger with piercing orange and yellow eyes. Roaring loudly and stalking around the campfire, Tracey tested them and herself and seeing how close she could get before they moved to defend themselves. She flexed her black ivory claws and swiped at them, feeling the need to protect herself and not show that she would be cowed anymore by her fears. Eying each of them in turn, Tracey picked out the one that she considered to be most of a threat to her survival and stalked toward Hercules, teeth bared and growls emanated from deep within her chest.

Hercules pulled his sword and stood his ground watching her warily while Atalanta nocked an arrow and aimed at her. Autolycus drew several short blades and Amphiaraus readied his spear. Tracey saw the sword and the knives glittering in the firelight and all she saw were scalpels. She didn't know what else to do and the sight of scalpels sent her over the edge. Charged forward with another roar to intimidate Hercules, Tracey lunged over the fire and then stood back on her hind legs to match his height. She brought up her paw, claws extended, to deliver a swipe to his broad and open chest but missed by inches and she came back down to the ground. Dirt was kicked up as she turned on her paws and charged Autolycus. He had been warned by both Artemis and herself that the knives were a very bad thing to have out around her, but here he was and she was losing her mind. In her eyes Autolycus was the closest in height, build and had the most knives in his hands so now he was her prime target and she would tear him to pieces when the opportunity presented itself.

Suddenly Artemis was between her and Autolycus her hands up and her mouth was moving. Tracey felt like she was trying to press through an invisible wall and Artemis collapsed to her knees her nose bleeding as she kept chanting. "Put the blades away! Now! I can't keep this up for very long!" She ground out and turned her face back to Tracey while Hercules sheathed his sword.

"Do it! Put them up now!." Hercules shouted and moved forward to help Artemis.

She shook her head frantically. "Don't touch me! She thinks you're someone else!"

She looked back to Tracey her body shaking as she tried to keep the shield up. Quite frustrated at not being able to get at her target, Tracey clawed viciously at the invisible shield and roared angrily. Falling back to onto her massive paws, she paced on long strides and growled, looking for another opening to attack from. Though the threat was somewhat lessened she didn't give up and started to stalk them in a wide birth, her head low and black fur rippling over her muscled body. Artemis slowly lowered her arms breathing hard. "Tracey… it's me, it's Artemis. You had a bad dream." She kept herself between Tracey and the others and crouched down low on the balls of her feet making herself less dominant and less threatening.

The massive, prowling tiger's ears flicked back and forth, listening to Artemis's voice but not stopping her pacing from side to side. Now Tracey's focus was all on Artemis and her claws were still visible and gleamed in the fire light. Time seemed to tick by until she slowly stopped moving and stood a few feet away, staring directly at Artemis, head low and studying everything. Tracey didn't see a present threat and so titled her head to the side until she was comfortable with the person in front of her and sat down on her hind legs and grunted several times as if she was giving in and submitting to something unseen by everyone.

Artemis moved forward very slowly hands held out low palms up. She smoothed her fingers through the thick fur around her cheeks and made soft soothing noises. "Legolas would be afraid of this Tracey. Legolas has never seen a tiger. Legolas needs you to be human for him." She murmured softly forcing herself to speak calmly.

The grunting continued until the tiger's tongue flicked over its sharp teeth and licked its lips. Laying down on the ground with her head tucked between her large paws, Tracey's furry body shuddered and tensed violently until her fur fell away and she reverted to her human form. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to hide herself from view and deeply pained breaths rattled her. She couldn't take Moriarty in her head anymore because it was too painful and all she wanted to do was vanish into the night and wake up in her bed at home.

"He... won't leave me alone..." Tracey cried, trying to stifle her words as she spoke to Artemis. "I can't make him go away..."

Artemis motioned to Hercules. "I need her cloak." She said and turned back to Tracey.

When Hercules handed her the cloak she covered Tracey in it and pulled her in close. "Shhh… shhh… Just breath now. I need you to breath slowly for me."

Tracey wrapped her arms around Artemis and tried to shrink back into her cloak and disappear into the folds of the fabric. Slowing her breathing until it was even again, she started to speak in hushed whispers.

"I tried to stay strong Artemis, but he won... Moriarty won." She said, looking up into Artemis's eyes. "He broke me... mentally. Not by taking his time and cutting me up with scalpels and burning me with alcohol..."

Artemis smoothed her hair back looking down at her eyes calm and reassuring. "He's dead Tracey, I made sure he's dead, thats a loss honey. You're still here and he's not, that's a win. We can heal you, we can pick up the pieces and put them back together. Do you you know what Kintsugi is?"

"No I don't..." Tracey replied with a sigh, sitting herself up again until she was sitting back on her heels. "I just want him gone, but these scars are just a constant reminder of what he did to me. How will that help me?"

She cautiously glanced at everyone as they stood around them before focusing on Artemis's face again. Artemis pulled the cloak up around her more securely and kept smoothing her hair back. "Kintsugi is the japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Just because a thing is broken doesn't mean it is not still beautiful and after a piece is repaired with Kintsugi it is stronger than the original piece. Moriarty may have broken you but we are going to fix what he damaged and make you stronger than he could have ever imagined." She spoke firmly but softly her eyes firm and intense.

"But until then I am your strength. Take your strength from me, I will not abandon you, I swear I will not let you stay broken. Ok? You believe in me right? You believe I won't let you stay hurt right?"

"Of course I do Artemis..." Tracey replied, trying to give her a smile but failing miserably. "You've always helped me when I was in pain and have always been there for me when I needed you... I'm just sorry I couldn't prevent this from happening before now, but I really did try."

She looked down at her scarred arms and winced a little. They felt tender, like she had actually gone through all the torture again, the scars even looked like they were a sharper and deeper shade of pinkish red and it was a little disturbing. Tracey looked up at Hercules and his friends and saw on their faces anger, but it was mixed with concern mostly.

"I'm sorry for putting your lives in danger, what I've done is unforgivable but I hope you'll at least try to."

They all looked between each other and after a moment Amphiaraus cleared his throat. "We had a friend, Thaddeus, he was born in battle and by the time he joined us he was more animal than human. We had to chain him every night or his nightmares controlled him. He escaped his bonds one night and gave me this." He moved his cloak to the side and pulled his shirt sleeve up to show a deep scar in the shape of human teeth.

He gave a rueful chuckle. "Granted you're a bit more dangerous but we're used to danger."

"How do we prevent this?" Hercules asked.

Artemis helped Tracey to her feet and arranged the cloak around her before wrapping an arm around her and leading her back to the fire. "If she's dreaming don't wake her, come get me. Don't touch her unless she invites you to and for god's sake don't flash knives at her."

Iolaus watched them warily as they all settled by the fire. "What happened to her that she's like this? One of the Gods curses?"

Artemis snorted and handed Tracey the bundle of linen strips she used to wrap herself in. "Hardly. Humanity can be far more cruel and devastatingly creative. An evil man tortured her and still does sometimes in her dreams."

Autolycus raised an eyebrow. "Should we ask what happened to the evil man?" He gave Tracey a significant look.

Tracey glanced at them while she wrapped the bandages around her body again and closed the cloak around herself, not to keep out the chilly night air but to hide herself again. Sitting down on her pallet again after straightening it out she took a deep breath and composed herself.

"Artemis killed him. We were sent to another place to fix it and make sure the man died because if he didn't than things were only going to get worse. Moriarty... a criminal consultant and criminal mastermind kidnapped me and our friend John Watson... The old factory we were kept in was dark, dank, and smelled like rust and black mold." Tracey answered, shuddering a little as she recounted the memories of their trip to London. "For no other reason but to keep Artemis and Sherlock at a distance from himself, Moriarty tortured John, carving, what I figured out was a map, into his chest... I thought that would be it until I woke up bound to a chair, my jacket gone and the same knives waiting to carve into my arms. He took his time cutting into me, even struck up a conversations as if we were drinking tea. I felt everything... trying to black out from the pain wasn't allowed, he just brought me back to consciousness."

She stopped and looked at them all in turn.

"Gassed so many times and dehydrated beyond healthy limits, I wretched on the ground and got slapped around til my lips were busted and a scalpel held to my eye with the promise of it being gouged out..." She continued, looking at Autolycus. "Tell me if that doesn't warrant a dislike for knives at all. I didn't even want Artemis to give me a dagger to protect myself with. I know he's dead, but the pain is still here... I know he's dead, but he still haunts me."

They stared at her horror etched across their faces, faces that had seen war, slaughter and the deprivations of various Gods. Atalanta cleared her throat. "You have the true Amazon Spirit. To have survived such and to still try to carry on. You have my respect."

The others murmured their assent then Autolycus looked at Artemis. "You killed him huh? I wouldn't have figured you for it."

Atalanta gave him a sharp poke and he frowned at her. "Oh get off it. It's not because she's a woman, I saw her sparring with you but look at her. She looks like someone's mother."

Artemis laughed. "Well technically I am someone's mother."

"Thank you Atalanta, I'm just sorry that I didn't have Hercules's strength. But I do have my resolve steeled and I'm going to make myself stronger with Artemis's help of course so this won't happen again." She looked at Iolaus and tried to smile. "Can you forgive me... if even a little?"

Iolaus squirmed a little and gave her a hesitant smile. "It's not your fault. Nothing to forgive."

Tracey bowed her head a little in gratitude to him and then looked to Artemis.

"I'm fine with starting Kintsugi whenever you are, but I'm not going back to sleep tonight so I'll stay up and keep watch."

Artemis looked up at the sky, the moon was still high and she shook her head. "Not tonight. I need some sleep and so does everyone else."

Hercules nodded and everyone dispersed themselves to their own bedrolls, Tracey watched Artemis settle down to sleep and realized she had dark circles under her eyes and there was still a little blood under her nose. She poked her gently in the cheek and then pulled a piece of gauze from her satchel and directed her attention to Artemis's nose.

"Is that blood because of the strain you were putting toward the shield a few minutes ago?" She asked quietly while the others shifted until they were comfortable. "You haven't been sleeping well have you?"

It was more of a statement than an actual question.

Artemis took the gauze and cleaned the blood away. "It's hard to do magic here without the Focus Items but there wasn't time to use a tool to direct the energy." She looked up at the moon and the white orb reflected in her eyes. "I had to draw the magic right from my own reserves. It takes a lot out of me."

"I'm sorry, I'll try to be more careful while we're here... now get some sleep and we'll make for the next temple in the morning. Hopefully you'll be refreshed in the morning." Tracey replied, throwing the used gauze into the fire and watching as it burned to ashes. "Good night."

Artemis reached over and squeezed her hand before rolling onto her side and drifted off.


	17. Chapter 17

They reached the next temple just as the sun reached it's zenith and everyone was grateful for the break. The climb was getting progressively harder, the trailed narrowed and more than once they had found human bones battered and broken against boulders where they had slipped and fallen. The Temple looked dull compared to the others. A square building made of the same dusty gray stone as the mountain. No brasiers, no statuary, it could have been the home of any mountain dweller. Amphiaraus handed Hercules his spear. "This one is mine." He said simply.

"Be careful Amphiaraus... are you sure you can't take your spear with you?" Tracey asked completely out of breath, eying the temple warily.

Even she was grateful for the rest. Despite transforming into a large mountain goat and mastering the terrain by leaping from boulder to rocky outcrops, Tracey was tired and her muscles were starting to ache. She had slipped a few times because of the tricky slopes, but the recovery was quick and she found her footing again.

"I would think you'd be allowed after Atalanta took her bow and Autolycus had his knives."

He smiled at her and it was a warm expression. "And somehow I don't think it did them any good in their temples. No this is a struggle of a different sort. One of the mind and soul, not of weapons."

"Still I would prefer to go in armed with at least a dagger, much to my reluctance." Tracey replied, shaking her head but honoring his words and saying nothing else.

She plopped herself down on a large rock and tried to relax for the time being. Amphiaraus walked into the temple and Artemis sat beside Tracey. She reached over and ran a finger up the longest line of scar on her right arm. After a time Tracey's butt began to go numb and she slipped herself off of her boulder and stood at the edge of the cliff. The wind blew her hair around and then she began to slow her breathing until it was even. She didn't say a word and watched the clouds, smelled the breeze and began swaying and starting her meditation forms, something she hadn't done since she and Artemis left the Turtles in New York. Time seemed to slow while she moved and Tracey watched the sun for a time, noting its position in the sky, but caring very little. She was calmer now and nothing troubled her, her mind completely calm and focused on her meditation.

Hercules sat down next to Artemis where she sat contemplating a small figure in her hand. He glanced down at it. "I've never seen a bird like that before."

She held it between thumb and finger holding it out to him. "It's one of a kind." She said as he carefully took the object in thick fingers.

He looked at the tiny bird figure before he started talking. "What you did last night… took guts."

Artemis shook her head and pushed her hair back behind her ear while the wind blew the auburn strands every which way. "Nah. Putting up your weapons in the face of a half ton of very pissed off tiger, that's guts. Climbing a mountain renowned for killing people who try, that takes guts. Facing off against kings and gods alike, that takes guts." She looked up at him and he felt like some giant sitting beside her.

He was used to being bigger than everyone else but sometimes it still surprised him, she looked away and he handed her the tiny bird figure. "So if we all face our weakness in these temples, what do you think yours is?" He asked.

"That's kinda personal don't you think?" She asked but her voice held a teasing tone.

"We've been traveling at close quarters for weeks." He retorted. "And we're probably all going to die on this damned mountain. Doesn't get much more personal."

"True that. If I had to guess I'd say my weakness is my anger." She shrugged and rolled the figure between her fingers.

"Anger? I haven't seen you get angry the whole time we've been traveling. In fact you're always calm, like nothing ever bothers you." Hercules was incredulous.

"Oh things bother me. I'm just really good at keeping it to myself. When I was younger I used to explode over the littlest things, everything pissed me off and I drove everyone who ever cared about me away with it. But I got older and learned how to control it. I had to, it was destroying me from the inside out. But I was angry when that bastard took Tracey, I was so furious, I'm still angry over it to be honest."

"You killed him." Hercules said and she looked up at him her dark eyes full of something so intense he thought it should literally sear his skin.

"I pushed him off a roof and then just to make sure he was well and truly dead I stamped on his head until it shattered like a broken melon." She took a breath and her eyes took on a far off look. And what's scary… I don't regret it at all. It's the first time I ever killed anyone and I don't give a good god damn. And I'm pretty sure that makes me some kind of monster."

He looked around the camp at his friends, they had killed people one and all and in most cases felt little in the way of remorse over it. For the most part he didn't either but he didn't think now was the time for philosophy. He clapped her gently on the back and she blinked as he grinned down at her. "Nah, you're too pretty to be a Monster. I should know."

Iolaus dropped down on the other side of Artemis. "What about monsters?"

"Artemis said she could be a monster, I told her she's too pretty to be a monster." Hercules said.

"Right, I mean you've faced loads of them and even sirens aren't very pretty, sure they sing a great song but if you get a look at their faces, eck, all pointed sharks teeth and gills." Iolaus said and grinned.

Artemis grinned back. "Flatterers."

Tracey could hear the conversation from her place and was relieved that everything seemed back to normal. She paused in her movements and then looked over her shoulder at them with a smile before continuing again with her meditation forms.

"They speak the truth Artemis and they know what they're talking about." Tracey said with another smile. "You can't deny that you're more beautiful than most of the girls and woman we've met, and you've drawn many an eye since we've been shot from one universe to another."

Artemis wrinkled her nose. "Beauty fades. I'd rather draw attention for being kick-ass and interesting."

Autolycus smirked. "Oh you're interesting."

"And we both know that you are a kick-ass fighter, you beat Raphael who was twice your size and bulkier to boot." Tracey replied with a smirk as she stopped her movements and turned to face Hercules, Iolaus, Artemis and Autolycus. "That makes you mega ass kicker in my book... I'd really like to see Raph go up against Hercules."

She laughed and nodded in amusement.

"Yeah that's a sparring fight I'd like to see."

Artemis opened her mouth to say something when the temple vanished and Amphiaraus walked towards them his usual knowing smile fixed in place. "I see you were successful my friend." Tracey said with a knowing smile. "Well done, shall we continue up the mountain?"

He inclined his head and held a hand out for his spear, Hercules tossed it to him and he leaned against it. "Three more temples remain. The most difficult I fear."


	18. Chapter 18

Amphiaraus looked around the subdued little temple when he passed through the door and his heart squeezed tight, he was back in that hellish stairwell in Thebes. Lord Cotys had ordered all his soldiers to kill them by whatever means necessary and he knew as the flaming arrow flew that his destiny was upon him, he would die here, in this dark pit.

The arrow struck home and he toppled down the stairs but no… that wasn't right, he was almost sure he'd fallen off the stairs to the side in his vision. The scene reset and again he saw the flaming arrow speeding to him. The pain that blossomed in his chest was unbelieveable as it sank into his chest pinning him to the stairs behind him. Again, this wasn't right, he knew that the arrow had struck him a little higher up and he had toppled sideways off the stairs into the dark.

Again the scene reset, again and again and again alway just a little wrong until he thought he might go mad with the pain of being repeatedly shot in the chest, he was almost a little bored with it all and that's when his mind screamed at him that this was WRONG. He frowned and looked up seeing the bowman pulling back the arrow, watched it fly through the flames and wondeerd how it was wrong, everything happened just as it should in the vision except that it kept hitting him in the wrong damned spot every time and he never fell over the side the way he KNEW he would.

He thought he saw a shadow flicker in front of him just as the arrow sank home AGAIN and he fell down the stairs. Wrong again. The scene rest and he scowled, this was getting tedious. He was used to his visions being a little hard to decipher but this one had been so clear, which was strange come to think of it. " _I will die a week from today in a place that looks an awful lot like hell."_ He remembered saying that to Hercules but he hadn't know the specific details, he never did until it was actually happening so why did he know this with such surety.

He was back on the stairs and that shadow was back but it was clearer, a hand… a big one. He knew that hand, Hercules was the only man he knew who had a hand that big and as soon as he realized that it all changed, he held his arms out as if for an embrace and the arrow was snatched out of the air, his destiny denied. " _Excuse me, that was my moment, my destiny."_ He quipped a smile tugging his lips this time even though when it had happened he;d been beyond disconcerted.

As the Temple faded around him he reflected that it had been months since he'd had a vision with such clarity, not until those two women had appeared, two women who were so much more.


	19. Chapter 19

They slogged up the narrowing path, the wind was getting colder and thinner the higher they went and again they had to camp on a precipice, this ledge was much smaller than before and everyone was nearly frozen by the time they managed to get a fire built as the last rays of the sun winked out under the horizon. "It feels like Mount Everest up here..." Tracey muttered, her teeth chattering. "Getting harder to breath and I hope we'll get to the last three temples soon before we suffocate up here."

Tracey shivered beneath her cloak and she huddled against the rock face and looked out at the rest of her new cohorts. They had started to layer themselves with their blankets and pulled their own wraps closer to their bodies for warmth. While they had layers, she had her skin and cloak, but she had a slight advantage and she was about to take it. Shifting her satchel from her shoulder and settling it at her side, Tracey thought quickly and hard about the furriest and warmest creature she could before smiling and taking on its shape. Catching her cloak as it fell from her shoulders with a massive white and furry paw, she laid down upon it, her white Siberian tiger fur rippled in the breeze which no longer bothered her. Tracey huffed several times, watching them with her pale blue eyes, her breath becoming misty in the cold air that she breathed. By the way they eyed her, she could see that they were slightly unease with this form. But seeing as she didn't have extra layers to use and the fact that she was awake when she transformed, made it was a little more comfortable than awkward.

'They have cloaks and blankets and I have fur... they'll just have to deal with it.' Tracey thought to herself and laid her head between her paws, settling herself for the night and watching them go about their business. Artemis scooted over and snuggled in against Tracey holding a bowl of stew in one hand and a larger pan of stew in the other which she set down next to one of Tracey's massive paws. Nuzzling her head against Artemis's in thanks, Tracey started to lap up the stew contents, licking her lips gratefully and not wasting a drop of the delicious liquid. There was enough to go around and the hot stew warmed their bellies and refreshed their spirits despite what the cold wind and night temperatures were trying to do to them. A low rumble in Tracey's throat showed her approval of the dinner and she then cuddled up to Artemis to keep her warm too.


	20. Chapter 20

Artemis stared around at the interior of the temple, she remembered the factory so well, she didn't think she'd ever be able to get the pattern of bricks out of her memory, or the way it smelled. She saw someone run up the stairs and followed after them. "Moriarty." She thought a flash of absolute hate ripping through her as she chased him up and up.

She burst out onto the roof and gasped skidding to a halt. It wasn't Moriarty she'd been chasing, it was herself but the eyes… they were the eyes of Dahok, the red slitted viper's eyes. Her face split in a malicious grin. "Oh you don't like that at all do you?"

She scowled and stalked towards her double. "No I don't. And that's the whole point of this isn't it. To point out the things we fear in ourselves right?"

"You're not as bright as you like to think you know that? Why do you keep seeing me in your dreams hmm? I barely rode you for an hour and yet when you have nightmares it's me that brings you awake with your heart in your mouth." Dahok smirked and walked in a slow circle around her.

Artemis crossed her arms her fingers tapping on the cast under the leather wrappings. "I don't know, objectively it wasn't that traumatic."

Dahok stopped behind her and rested her hands on her shoulders massaging gently. "Maybe because it wasn't that traumatic, I mean, anyone else would expect it to be, they would feel violated and horrified but you…. You're used to seeing things that would terrify the average, to wielding the forces of nature. You _liked_ feeling me ride you, the feeling of all that power at your fingertips, you wanted to use it. After all you seared my very essence from your mind and body with the very fires of creation. You still want it, still want to use it but you stop yourself, you limit yourself in every world to doing things the human way because it terrifies you how very much you want to use the power to change a world you've never felt like you can change."

Artemis felt her stomach clench knowing Dahok was right. Dahok turned her towards the edge of the roof and a ghostly impression of Artemis holding Moriarty just barely on the edge of the room, she looked back over her shoulder as impressions of John and Sherlock burst through the door and Dahok whispered in her ear. "See that look? That perfect clarity, that singular moment of holding his life in your hands and knowing that YOU knew he needed to die. That you alone could send him plummeting to his death and set everything right. You love that feeling and you miss it."

She stepped away and stared at her impression, frozen in that split second of decision, her eyes were serious, resolute and without remorse. Dahok was right and that made her feel squirmy inside, the scene played out and Moriarty fell seven stories. Dahok chuckled. "See the reason you see me in your nightmares isn't because you're afraid of me, or are traumatized by the experience, it's because you aren't. You like having power, you like feeling important. Isn't that why you've kept the whole story about that little audience with the Voice from Tracey? Secrets are powerful and she makes such a useful pawn."

Artemis's eyes narrowed and she punched Dahok with her left fist sending Dahok reeling back blood blossoming from her nose. "I'm not the only one who's not so bright here." She smirked. "If you think the reason I kept that from Tracey is because it makes me feel powerful you're dumber than I am."

She grabbed Dahok by the shirt and pushed her back until she was teetering on the edge of the roof like Moriarty had been. "Yeah, I like being powerful, I like feeling magic crackling through me and giving me the power to rewrite reality. Its fucking intoxicating. But you know what's even better?"

She leaned in until she was almost nose to nose with Dahok. "Tracey's trust in me. Knowing that she has my back, knowing that I have hers.I didn't tell her because she doesn't need to know that one more person or being thinks they can keep her out of the loop. She doesn't need anyone else disregarding her as unimportant. She got enough of that at home. I need her here with me because I can't do what the Voice wants without her help. So yeah, I'm afraid of my own power, I'm afraid of how good it feels to use it and I'll keep doing things the human way because in the end being human is exactly why the Voice chose me."

She let go of Dahok and watched her fall seven stories to the ground below. "Besides, there are other things that scare me now. Like this fucking factory."

The factory faded around her and to her surprise the memory of what happened didn't fade, she stared out at the horizon sorting through the realizations until Tracey pressed her massive head against her chest.


	21. Chapter 21

They reached the next temple just as the sun was dipping down under the horizon, Tracey wasn't surprised at all by the exterior, a massive pale tree with a circular staircase leading to a pale wooden building in the limbs. Artemis chuckled. "Leave it to your temple to look just like Lady Galadriel's library."

Tracey's blue eyes studied the temple closely. She was able to pick out several details that she didn't think the Gods could have added without them having picked through her mind, an uncomfortable thought. But her temple did look exactly like Lady Galadriel's library and it comforted her a little. If there was a place she'd like to go back to and remain there it would have been Middle Earth instead of going back home to their universe... she just felt more at peace there. It was also because she knew Middle Earth and quite a few of its secrets, not just that she would have the most amazing Elf lover, but Middle Earth was special to her and she felt she had a deep connection with the forests and nature there. Shifting herself to her normal human form and tying up her body bandages, Tracey looked at Artemis and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's a small comfort I can assure you of that." She replied, looking back to the temple high above her and then to the horizon. "I would prefer to complete my test in the light, does anyone object?"

Artemis eyed the temple her fingers running over the leather covering her cast, Tracey noticed that her fingers were tracing some kind of design over and over, Amphiaraus moved up to stand beside them and he had the same look on his face, his finger roamed up and down the haft of his spear in the same unseen designs, Artemis turned to Tracey and shook her head. "It's not going to let you wait." She said her voice a little unsteady.

"Alright... I'll go in now." Tracey said with a sigh and looked up at the temple again. "I'll see you guys soon, that I have no doubt about."

Taking a deep breath, she slightly hesitated scaling the staircase, but she knew that she had to. They had all come this far and it was crucial that they all continued their journey together. Her fingers tracing the bark of the thick tree, while her bare feet touched the cold slab steps making her feet feel heavy like lead. She pulled her cloak closer to her body and used her other hand to pushed the elaborately carved door open and entered the temple.

"I don't know what I'm going to face in here and I'm not sure I want to, but this has to be done and I think I'm strong enough to do this." She muttered under her breath as she closed the door behind her and let her hazel eyes adjust to the light.

The room was as she remembered it, warm sunlight filtering in through the windows and the soft leather covers of the book perfuming the air pleasantly alongside the flowering plants in every corner. The wings on her back opened and closed slowly catching the light with pale blue motes of dust in the air.

"This brings back pleasant memories..." Tracey said slowly, glancing over at her wings and fluttering them again, a smile rising to her lips. "I have missed these too."

She continued to scan the room and kept her back to the door she had come through. Her fingers traced over very familiar book covers and Tracey sighed heavily, letting the book smell fill her nose until she exhaled. She kept her cloak close to her body while she walked and her bare feet making no noise on the tiled floor. All of this was pleasant to behold again and gave her nothing but acceptance and peace, but Tracey had to try to push all of this from her mind and remain focus on what was at hand. She started to get worried and gazed around the still empty room expectantly.

"For all that is or isn't fair in this world, please don't let him appear... I will lose all my composure." Tracey started to say in Elvish, the atmosphere she was surrounded by affecting her speech. "If Moriarty appears I will kill him."

She slowly became aware of the music floating in from the outside and the sound of a festival, the door opened behind her and Legolas stepped in a smile curving his lips and making his eyes glow. "What are you doing up here alone? The festival is in full swing and that friend of yours is teasing all the young elves with kisses."

Slowly a smile passed over Tracey's lips as her pointed ears wiggled at the sound of his smooth voice. She turned and her smile only widened when she beheld his handsome face too. Looking down at her hands for a moment, Tracey tried to think of a reason why she was up here when there was a lively party going on downstairs. It wasn't like her to keep anyone waiting for her and there would be a lot. She looked down at her clothes and shook a little confusion from her mind before looking up at Legolas and being drawn into his beautiful blue eyes.

"I'm sorry my love, I was lost in thought... I guess." Tracey replied, fingering her cloak in a fidgeting manner.

He smiled at her and took her hand motioning to the door. "So long as you also get lost in the festivities I'm sure I can forgive you."

"You'll be by my side... I don't even think you'd let me get lost in the crowd for too long before you'd want to dance with me again." Tracey said with a laugh, giving his hand a gentle squeeze as she let him lead her from the room. "As for Artemis... What can I say, she likes to play a little and her heart belongs to another."

She quickly shed her cloak and folded it over a chair, straightening the fabric of her attire. Her clothes consisted of a pair of baggy, light blue pants, a beautiful top with transparent sleeves and a silver embroidered corset that fit perfectly around her waist. Tracey's feet were still bare, like she usually went around in the Elven cities.

He gave her a puzzled look. "I wasn't speaking of Artemis, Arwen is the one doing the teasing." They got to the bottom of the stairs and the music surrounded them.

Tracey giggled behind her other hand and nodded when she saw Arwen surrounded by a group of no more than five young Elves who were captivated by her smile and bright eyes. They were holding a very interesting conversation because they were all talking in turn and a few laughed loudly. Tracey couldn't help but smile and nod.

"Ah I see what you mean." Tracey said with a smile. "Good for Arwen, who else is here that we know?"

"Gandalf is making free with the food and drink." Legolas pointed the tall wizard out near the tables. "Lord Elrond and Celeborn are with Lady Galadriel under the bower." He motioned to the far end of the festival ground. "And of course my father is here somewhere."

"Your father?" Tracey asked, her heart suddenly beating faster. "I didn't realize he would be attending as well."

Subconsciously she started to fidget again and brushed invisible dirt from her pants. Tracey had never met Legolas's father and she wanted to make sure that she was presentable if they were to happen upon him. Legolas took her hands and smiled down at her. "You look lovely as always my love."

"As lovely as the first dawn." A cultured a voice said from behind her and she turned to see Thranduil behind her.

For a moment Tracey's wings tensed at the unfamiliar and smooth voice and she stood up straighter. Her breathing was slightly uneven for several moments before a few breaths calmed her down greatly. Upon King Thranduil's arrival her wings had suddenly tensed up collapsed, folding against her back before she could even think about it. Tracey turned on her bare heel, bowed her head while placing her right hand over her heart, and curtsied respectfully.

"Thank you kindly for your compliment my Lord." Tracey said, straightening her posture and looked carefully into his misty gray eyes. "I hope that you're enjoying the festivities."

"Lady Galadriel has never thrown a unsatisfactory regalia." Thranduil replied and gave a slight bow. "My apologies for startling you and my condolences on your recent loss."

Tracey blinked in confusion for a moment and then looked to Legolas for some explanation.

"I'm sorry my Lord, but I don't understand what you mean by my recent loss... will you enlighten me please?" She asked quietly, her heart starting to pound again in her chest.

Legolas put a comforting arm around her shoulders and Thranduil looked at his son in concern. "I thought you said she was recovered?"

Legolas gave him a reproving look then looked down at Tracey. "The loss of her soul sister was a deep wound upon her heart and mind Father." He gently took her hand. "You returned to Middle Earth some months ago… without Artemis and in great distress."

"No..." Tracey said in a whisper, not only to keep the pleasant atmosphere with the other patrons going but also in a disbelieving manner. "She's not dead... I refuse to believe it."

She didn't know what to think of this new information, but it couldn't have been true... Artemis couldn't be gone. Legolas held her reassuringly. "You refused to speak of what happened, you would only say that you were here to stay but you have had… disturbed dreams and for a time we feared you had gone mad. Especially when you began cutting your arm."

He pushed one sleeve up, the scars were gone, all but a few new cuts that ran in short crooked, wavering lines on her left arm. The clean straight scars were all gone leaving her arms smooth. That was wrong somehow but she couldn't remember why. Despite the evidence Legolas provided on her smooth skin, Tracey started to shake her head again and wanted to pull away from him. She examined her arms and traced the scars with her fingers, something wasn't right but she could understand what yet.

"That doesn't sound like something I would do Legolas. I would grieve in my own way but I would never hurt myself intentionally." She said a little louder, her wings fluttering in slight irritation that he would think she was capable of it. "Did I tell you anything about my nightmares? Any names that I've told you in relations to them at all?"

He shook his head. "You barely spoke when you returned, Barely ate or slept for days. Galadriel and Celeborn did everything they could but eventually we had to send for Lord Elrond. It wasn't until Arwen arrived with him that you began to recover."

As she looked down at her skin she began to see faint lines, almost illusionary on her skin and memories started filtering back. Not the ones she feared but the travels, the people, the places and the lives they'd changed. "I did not do this to myself." Tracey stated firmly, looking directly into Legolas's calm blue eyes. "I need to speak to Arwen and Lord Elrond … Please excuse me Lord Thranduil, Legolas, there's something going on here and I need to figure out what's going on..."

She gave the Elven king a respectful curtsy and turned away to find Arwen amongst the patrons enjoying the festivities. Tracey found her still within the circle of the young Elves and she excused herself so she could step into their midst and steal her away.

"Pardon me my friends, but I need to discuss something important with Lady Arwen. Have no fear, I will return her to you when I'm finished."

Arwen moved away with Tracey and gave her a gentle smile. "Are you well Tracey? You look upset."

"Arwen I'm sorry to put you through this trouble again, but I need to know what happened when I returned to Middle Earth." Tracey answered quickly, looking straight into her soft brown eyes. "Where is Artemis?"

Arwen gave her a sympathetic look. "Well I don't know about the events directly after you returned, Father and I were called here a week after you returned and it took us a few weeks to get here but when I got here you were a wreck. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, refused to talk. The only rest you found was in Legolas's arms. When I arrived you seemed unable to discern my identity, you kept calling me Artemis and begged me not to leave. Not to leave you behind. I don't know what happened to her, you wouldn't speak of it." She took Traceys hand and looked at her arm. "You kept saying your arms were wrong too. We had to remove anything with a sharp edge from your reach, you kept trying to make straight cuts and screamed that you could bring her back if the lines came back."

"No that's not right... I wouldn't hurt myself on purpose, why does everyone think that I would something like that?" Tracey insisted, shaking her head and sighing heavily. "Did I mention any names to you at all?"

She was growing frustrated with the lack of answers the was getting for her questions. Arwen thought about it. "You screamed a word once. It didn't make any sense at all though. Moriarty."

The name resonated in Traceys head sending everything shattering out of focus. Her arms burned and she felt like she couldn't get enough air as the festivities faded around her. Arwen faded away leaving a void around her, a blackness that smelled of smoke and fire. Tracey's arms burned and were outlined by white hot fire, paining her to the point that she doubled over and gasped for breath. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the pain, but it didn't work. Eventually she relieved herself by crying out and as loudly as she could, her voice traveling out until she lost her air and had to gasp for another breath. The air was hot and burned her throat, sweat perspiring on her forehead as she knelt on the bare ground.

"Bastard."

"Well you are the one who insisted on poking at it until it all broke apart." A voice issued from the darkness. "You could have been content, home at last with your beloved, a little mangled to be sure but the emotional pain would subside leaving you happy and in love."

Tracey's head shot up and her normally hazel eyes turned completely black as she scanned the darkness around her.

"Show yourself!" She growled, touching the dagger she still had sheathed at her thigh to make sure it was there.

A figure resolved itself out of the smoke and Artemis stepped forward cocking a hip and propping a hand on her hip, only it wasn't Artemis, it was Dahok. The bright viper's eyes glinted at her and she smirked. "You're both so scared of me and I'm not even the worst you've run into since the first time we met. I mean really, I barely even damaged either of you."

"You really should pick your own body, that one doesn't look good on you." She said with a less-than-amused look on her face. "And for your information, yes I could have stayed, but it wouldn't be the same. I would have holes in my memories and I've already been through that and it was far from a tasteful experience."

Tracey crossed her arms under her chest and shook her head at Dahok.

"We're not scared of you anymore." Tracey added, pushing back her hair from her face. "You're a figment of our imagination and have no power over us anymore... like you said, you, an all powerful spirit, couldn't even hold Artemis for fifteen minutes before Ares and I dispelled you... too bad, so sad."

Dahok laughed throwing Artemis's head back and Tracey hated seeing that so familiar gesture from Dahok. "Oh you're too good. I like this body, she's comfortable, clean and oh so powerful."

She sobered suddenly, like a switch being flipped. "You're here to face your fears, and that twisted son of a bitch wasn't the top of your nightmare list. How does that feel?"

Tracey started at Dahok for several minutes, contemplating what he was talking about before forming an answer.

"Actually I was a little surprised Moriarty wasn't the one who appeared to torment me... and we already know you're not a fear to myself or Artemis anymore." Tracey replied with another smirk. "You're just present here because you're the first pitiful spirit we had to deal with in the other Ancient Greece universe, I guess you're an appropriate manifestation for this place."

She shifted her weight to her other leg and continued.

"At least this proves I'm not afraid of him anymore, so I'll thank you for that."

Dahok chuckled again and took a step closer. "Oh you're still scared of him, he haunts you but he's not the thing you really fear most of all."

The hellish light dimmed a little when she came closer. "You're so afraid of not knowing what's going on, so afraid of being left out, it eats at you like a cancer. People keeping secrets and people making decisions for you. That's why you're so angry with the Voice. It chose your path and won't even tell you why. Oh it told Artemis though didn't it. Artemis who seems to know everything, who has all the answers and always seems so unphased by anything while you stew in your own anxiety. And it never touches her does it? The fear, the pain, the worry. Like she Knows something but just won't tell you because after all, how could you possibly help her? She has power, she always has and you're just so human." The words dripped like venom making Tracey's stomach clench and her heart thundered in her ears.

"There's nothing wrong with being human and there's plenty of ways I can and have helped Artemis. I may not have the glorious powers and abilities that she has, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless either. I've been able to learn many new things on my own too." Tracey spat back at Dahok, jabbing a finger into the figure's chest to emphasize her point. "We all keep secrets, it's what makes us human. The fact that Artemis is keeping something from me is probably for my own good and all I have to do is ask her if I want to know something."

This did make her start to think a little harder about what she had witnessed just now before she and Dahok started to talk. As he said, Tracey's greatest fear was not knowing what was going on and feeling left out, but that is something she could change. Standing up straighter, she rolled her shoulders back and shifted her weight again.

"I was a little sidetracked in London to ask Artemis what she had found out from the Voice, but my point is I have but to ask if I want to know something."

Dahok smiled and leaned in close whispering in her ear as the hellish light faded away and the blistering cold of the mountain filtered back in. "So ask." The temple was gone and Tracey stood in the freezing dark listening to the soft murmur of voices around a fire nearby.


	22. Chapter 22

They reached the next temple just as the sun was dipping down under the horizon, Tracey wasn't surprised at all by the exterior, a massive pale tree with a circular staircase leading to a pale wooden building in the limbs. Artemis chuckled. "Leave it to your temple to look just like Lady Galadriel's library."

Tracey's blue eyes studied the temple closely. She was able to pick out several details that she didn't think the Gods could have added without them having picked through her mind, an uncomfortable thought. But her temple did look exactly like Lady Galadriel's library and it comforted her a little. If there was a place she'd like to go back to and remain there it would have been Middle Earth instead of going back home to their universe... she just felt more at peace there. It was also because she knew Middle Earth and quite a few of its secrets, not just that she would have the most amazing Elf lover, but Middle Earth was special to her and she felt she had a deep connection with the forests and nature there. Shifting herself to her normal human form and tying up her body bandages, Tracey looked at Artemis and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's a small comfort I can assure you of that." She replied, looking back to the temple high above her and then to the horizon. "I would prefer to complete my test in the light, does anyone object?"

Artemis eyed the temple her fingers running over the leather covering her cast, Tracey noticed that her fingers were tracing some kind of design over and over, Amphiaraus moved up to stand beside them and he had the same look on his face, his finger roamed up and down the haft of his spear in the same unseen designs, Artemis turned to Tracey and shook her head. "It's not going to let you wait." She said her voice a little unsteady.

"Alright... I'll go in now." Tracey said with a sigh and looked up at the temple again. "I'll see you guys soon, that I have no doubt about."

Taking a deep breath, she slightly hesitated scaling the staircase, but she knew that she had to. They had all come this far and it was crucial that they all continued their journey together. Her fingers tracing the bark of the thick tree, while her bare feet touched the cold slab steps making her feet feel heavy like lead. She pulled her cloak closer to her body and used her other hand to pushed the elaborately carved door open and entered the temple.

"I don't know what I'm going to face in here and I'm not sure I want to, but this has to be done and I think I'm strong enough to do this." She muttered under her breath as she closed the door behind her and let her hazel eyes adjust to the light.

The room was as she remembered it, warm sunlight filtering in through the windows and the soft leather covers of the book perfuming the air pleasantly alongside the flowering plants in every corner. The wings on her back opened and closed slowly catching the light with pale blue motes of dust in the air.

"This brings back pleasant memories..." Tracey said slowly, glancing over at her wings and fluttering them again, a smile rising to her lips. "I have missed these too."

She continued to scan the room and kept her back to the door she had come through. Her fingers traced over very familiar book covers and Tracey sighed heavily, letting the book smell fill her nose until she exhaled. She kept her cloak close to her body while she walked and her bare feet making no noise on the tiled floor. All of this was pleasant to behold again and gave her nothing but acceptance and peace, but Tracey had to try to push all of this from her mind and remain focus on what was at hand. She started to get worried and gazed around the still empty room expectantly.

"For all that is or isn't fair in this world, please don't let him appear... I will lose all my composure." Tracey started to say in Elvish, the atmosphere she was surrounded by affecting her speech. "If Moriarty appears I will kill him."

She slowly became aware of the music floating in from the outside and the sound of a festival, the door opened behind her and Legolas stepped in a smile curving his lips and making his eyes glow. "What are you doing up here alone? The festival is in full swing and that friend of yours is teasing all the young elves with kisses."

Slowly a smile passed over Tracey's lips as her pointed ears wiggled at the sound of his smooth voice. She turned and her smile only widened when she beheld his handsome face too. Looking down at her hands for a moment, Tracey tried to think of a reason why she was up here when there was a lively party going on downstairs. It wasn't like her to keep anyone waiting for her and there would be a lot. She looked down at her clothes and shook a little confusion from her mind before looking up at Legolas and being drawn into his beautiful blue eyes.

"I'm sorry my love, I was lost in thought... I guess." Tracey replied, fingering her cloak in a fidgeting manner.

He smiled at her and took her hand motioning to the door. "So long as you also get lost in the festivities I'm sure I can forgive you."

"You'll be by my side... I don't even think you'd let me get lost in the crowd for too long before you'd want to dance with me again." Tracey said with a laugh, giving his hand a gentle squeeze as she let him lead her from the room. "As for Artemis... What can I say, she likes to play a little and her heart belongs to another."

She quickly shed her cloak and folded it over a chair, straightening the fabric of her attire. Her clothes consisted of a pair of baggy, light blue pants, a beautiful top with transparent sleeves and a silver embroidered corset that fit perfectly around her waist. Tracey's feet were still bare, like she usually went around in the Elven cities.

He gave her a puzzled look. "I wasn't speaking of Artemis, Arwen is the one doing the teasing." They got to the bottom of the stairs and the music surrounded them.

Tracey giggled behind her other hand and nodded when she saw Arwen surrounded by a group of no more than five young Elves who were captivated by her smile and bright eyes. They were holding a very interesting conversation because they were all talking in turn and a few laughed loudly. Tracey couldn't help but smile and nod.

"Ah I see what you mean." Tracey said with a smile. "Good for Arwen, who else is here that we know?"

"Gandalf is making free with the food and drink." Legolas pointed the tall wizard out near the tables. "Lord Elrond and Celeborn are with Lady Galadriel under the bower." He motioned to the far end of the festival ground. "And of course my father is here somewhere."

"Your father?" Tracey asked, her heart suddenly beating faster. "I didn't realize he would be attending as well."

Subconsciously she started to fidget again and brushed invisible dirt from her pants. Tracey had never met Legolas's father and she wanted to make sure that she was presentable if they were to happen upon him. Legolas took her hands and smiled down at her. "You look lovely as always my love."

"As lovely as the first dawn." A cultured a voice said from behind her and she turned to see Thranduil behind her.

For a moment Tracey's wings tensed at the unfamiliar and smooth voice and she stood up straighter. Her breathing was slightly uneven for several moments before a few breaths calmed her down greatly. Upon King Thranduil's arrival her wings had suddenly tensed up collapsed, folding against her back before she could even think about it. Tracey turned on her bare heel, bowed her head while placing her right hand over her heart, and curtsied respectfully.

"Thank you kindly for your compliment my Lord." Tracey said, straightening her posture and looked carefully into his misty gray eyes. "I hope that you're enjoying the festivities."

"Lady Galadriel has never thrown a unsatisfactory regalia." Thranduil replied and gave a slight bow. "My apologies for startling you and my condolences on your recent loss."

Tracey blinked in confusion for a moment and then looked to Legolas for some explanation.

"I'm sorry my Lord, but I don't understand what you mean by my recent loss... will you enlighten me please?" She asked quietly, her heart starting to pound again in her chest.

Legolas put a comforting arm around her shoulders and Thranduil looked at his son in concern. "I thought you said she was recovered?"

Legolas gave him a reproving look then looked down at Tracey. "The loss of her soul sister was a deep wound upon her heart and mind Father." He gently took her hand. "You returned to Middle Earth some months ago… without Artemis and in great distress."

"No..." Tracey said in a whisper, not only to keep the pleasant atmosphere with the other patrons going but also in a disbelieving manner. "She's not dead... I refuse to believe it."

She didn't know what to think of this new information, but it couldn't have been true... Artemis couldn't be gone. Legolas held her reassuringly. "You refused to speak of what happened, you would only say that you were here to stay but you have had… disturbed dreams and for a time we feared you had gone mad. Especially when you began cutting your arm."

He pushed one sleeve up, the scars were gone, all but a few new cuts that ran in short crooked, wavering lines on her left arm. The clean straight scars were all gone leaving her arms smooth. That was wrong somehow but she couldn't remember why. Despite the evidence Legolas provided on her smooth skin, Tracey started to shake her head again and wanted to pull away from him. She examined her arms and traced the scars with her fingers, something wasn't right but she could understand what yet.

"That doesn't sound like something I would do Legolas. I would grieve in my own way but I would never hurt myself intentionally." She said a little louder, her wings fluttering in slight irritation that he would think she was capable of it. "Did I tell you anything about my nightmares? Any names that I've told you in relations to them at all?"

He shook his head. "You barely spoke when you returned, Barely ate or slept for days. Galadriel and Celeborn did everything they could but eventually we had to send for Lord Elrond. It wasn't until Arwen arrived with him that you began to recover."

As she looked down at her skin she began to see faint lines, almost illusionary on her skin and memories started filtering back. Not the ones she feared but the travels, the people, the places and the lives they'd changed. "I did not do this to myself." Tracey stated firmly, looking directly into Legolas's calm blue eyes. "I need to speak to Arwen and Lord Elrond … Please excuse me Lord Thranduil, Legolas, there's something going on here and I need to figure out what's going on..."

She gave the Elven king a respectful curtsy and turned away to find Arwen amongst the patrons enjoying the festivities. Tracey found her still within the circle of the young Elves and she excused herself so she could step into their midst and steal her away.

"Pardon me my friends, but I need to discuss something important with Lady Arwen. Have no fear, I will return her to you when I'm finished."

Arwen moved away with Tracey and gave her a gentle smile. "Are you well Tracey? You look upset."

"Arwen I'm sorry to put you through this trouble again, but I need to know what happened when I returned to Middle Earth." Tracey answered quickly, looking straight into her soft brown eyes. "Where is Artemis?"

Arwen gave her a sympathetic look. "Well I don't know about the events directly after you returned, Father and I were called here a week after you returned and it took us a few weeks to get here but when I got here you were a wreck. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, refused to talk. The only rest you found was in Legolas's arms. When I arrived you seemed unable to discern my identity, you kept calling me Artemis and begged me not to leave. Not to leave you behind. I don't know what happened to her, you wouldn't speak of it." She took Traceys hand and looked at her arm. "You kept saying your arms were wrong too. We had to remove anything with a sharp edge from your reach, you kept trying to make straight cuts and screamed that you could bring her back if the lines came back."

"No that's not right... I wouldn't hurt myself on purpose, why does everyone think that I would something like that?" Tracey insisted, shaking her head and sighing heavily. "Did I mention any names to you at all?"

She was growing frustrated with the lack of answers the was getting for her questions. Arwen thought about it. "You screamed a word once. It didn't make any sense at all though. Moriarty."

The name resonated in Traceys head sending everything shattering out of focus. Her arms burned and she felt like she couldn't get enough air as the festivities faded around her. Arwen faded away leaving a void around her, a blackness that smelled of smoke and fire. Tracey's arms burned and were outlined by white hot fire, paining her to the point that she doubled over and gasped for breath. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the pain, but it didn't work. Eventually she relieved herself by crying out and as loudly as she could, her voice traveling out until she lost her air and had to gasp for another breath. The air was hot and burned her throat, sweat perspiring on her forehead as she knelt on the bare ground.

"Bastard."

"Well you are the one who insisted on poking at it until it all broke apart." A voice issued from the darkness. "You could have been content, home at last with your beloved, a little mangled to be sure but the emotional pain would subside leaving you happy and in love."

Tracey's head shot up and her normally hazel eyes turned completely black as she scanned the darkness around her.

"Show yourself!" She growled, touching the dagger she still had sheathed at her thigh to make sure it was there.

A figure resolved itself out of the smoke and Artemis stepped forward cocking a hip and propping a hand on her hip, only it wasn't Artemis, it was Dahok. The bright viper's eyes glinted at her and she smirked. "You're both so scared of me and I'm not even the worst you've run into since the first time we met. I mean really, I barely even damaged either of you."

"You really should pick your own body, that one doesn't look good on you." She said with a less-than-amused look on her face. "And for your information, yes I could have stayed, but it wouldn't be the same. I would have holes in my memories and I've already been through that and it was far from a tasteful experience."

Tracey crossed her arms under her chest and shook her head at Dahok.

"We're not scared of you anymore." Tracey added, pushing back her hair from her face. "You're a figment of our imagination and have no power over us anymore... like you said, you, an all powerful spirit, couldn't even hold Artemis for fifteen minutes before Ares and I dispelled you... too bad, so sad."

Dahok laughed throwing Artemis's head back and Tracey hated seeing that so familiar gesture from Dahok. "Oh you're too good. I like this body, she's comfortable, clean and oh so powerful."

She sobered suddenly, like a switch being flipped. "You're here to face your fears, and that twisted son of a bitch wasn't the top of your nightmare list. How does that feel?"

Tracey started at Dahok for several minutes, contemplating what he was talking about before forming an answer.

"Actually I was a little surprised Moriarty wasn't the one who appeared to torment me... and we already know you're not a fear to myself or Artemis anymore." Tracey replied with another smirk. "You're just present here because you're the first pitiful spirit we had to deal with in the other Ancient Greece universe, I guess you're an appropriate manifestation for this place."

She shifted her weight to her other leg and continued.

"At least this proves I'm not afraid of him anymore, so I'll thank you for that."

Dahok chuckled again and took a step closer. "Oh you're still scared of him, he haunts you but he's not the thing you really fear most of all."

The hellish light dimmed a little when she came closer. "You're so afraid of not knowing what's going on, so afraid of being left out, it eats at you like a cancer. People keeping secrets and people making decisions for you. That's why you're so angry with the Voice. It chose your path and won't even tell you why. Oh it told Artemis though didn't it. Artemis who seems to know everything, who has all the answers and always seems so unphased by anything while you stew in your own anxiety. And it never touches her does it? The fear, the pain, the worry. Like she Knows something but just won't tell you because after all, how could you possibly help her? She has power, she always has and you're just so human." The words dripped like venom making Tracey's stomach clench and her heart thundered in her ears.

"There's nothing wrong with being human and there's plenty of ways I can and have helped Artemis. I may not have the glorious powers and abilities that she has, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless either. I've been able to learn many new things on my own too." Tracey spat back at Dahok, jabbing a finger into the figure's chest to emphasize her point. "We all keep secrets, it's what makes us human. The fact that Artemis is keeping something from me is probably for my own good and all I have to do is ask her if I want to know something."

This did make her start to think a little harder about what she had witnessed just now before she and Dahok started to talk. As he said, Tracey's greatest fear was not knowing what was going on and feeling left out, but that is something she could change. Standing up straighter, she rolled her shoulders back and shifted her weight again.

"I was a little sidetracked in London to ask Artemis what she had found out from the Voice, but my point is I have but to ask if I want to know something."

Dahok smiled and leaned in close whispering in her ear as the hellish light faded away and the blistering cold of the mountain filtered back in. "So ask." The temple was gone and Tracey stood in the freezing dark listening to the soft murmur of voices around a fire nearby.


	23. Chapter 23

She saw a figure huddled against a sheltering rock and recognized Artemis's form in the dark. She was a little hazy on the details of what she'd seen and done in the temple but she felt a faint sense of suspicion towards the other woman. Shivering a little and pulling her cloak closer to her body, Tracey slowly made her way to the campfire and yawned from the chilly night air, something she did normally when she was cold. She gently placed a hand on Artemis's shoulder and gave her a small squeeze before sitting down next to her and leaning in a bit.

"I have something I need to ask you my dear." She whispered after smiling at everyone in their company. "There are a few things I need to know... about what you learned from the Voice when you spoke to it in London."

Artemis gave a long slow blink then turned to face her a little better. "What exactly do you want to know? I gave you the rundown on the way back to Baker Street. The Voice is battling an Enemy that wants to destroy reality. It's doing it by altering the Fantasies that humanity writes to express the higher ideals, truth, justice, love, acceptance, all that stuff. If the Enemy can destroy those it can destroy Reality."

"Yes I remember you telling me all that but I want to know is..." Tracey stopped and looked directly into Artemis's brown eyes before starting in a low voice. "What will happen if we don't succeed? What if either of us don't come back to our own reality? What will happen then?"

"I don't know for sure. I know there were others who got tapped before us, I get the impression that failure in this case means we just die." Artemis pulled her blanket up higher around her shoulders.

Tracey nodded her head slowly, but still needed to know more and started to disregard the cold despite the fact that she was shivering still.

"Did the Voice always chose people in pairs? Or was just one suppose to be selected?"

Artemis pursed her lips. "No. They chose individuals with certain… gifts. We're the first pair, originally it was just supposed to be me. Even Zeus said so back when all this started."

"So he didn't say why I was dragged in with you at all?" Tracey asked hopefully, wishing to know more. "You're the one with the gifts... so will happen to me if you end up dying while we're trying to put reality back on course?"

It would be a hard truth for Tracey to hear and accept if she and Artemis were to be separated forever, but she felt that she should know before they went on. She had already figured out that they could be hurt and to a great extent so death was possible too and since that was the case, they would have to be ever more diligent in their attempts to stay alive.

Artemis hesitated and started picking at the hem of the blanket. "I made a deal…." She said slowly. "If anything happens to me you'll go back to Middle Earth. I probably should have demanded they send you back right then but this was before you go hurt so badly. I was considering trying to contact the Voice again and ask them to send you back now."

There was a resounding smack that echoed over the rocks and down the mountain side. Everyone looked up from their business and chatter to see the aftermath of what had just transpired. The growing red mark on Artemis's cheek started to become more evident when she turned back to face Tracey.

"Don't you even think about doing that again Artemis! I'm not going anywhere without you and you'll have the devil's own task to send me away before I see OUR task finished! Together." Tracey hissed angrily, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself a little. "I appreciate that you're looking out for me, but the final decision where I am concerned will rest with me. Anything else that happens should be considered by both of us... alright?"

Tracey hadn't wanted to slap Artemis and she was greatly surprised by her own aggression toward her, but some emotion triggered her reaction before she could stop it and she lashed out. It was the first time since they met and became best friends that she had ever done such a thing and she hoped that she wouldn't have to again.

The blanket slipped down off Artemis's shoulders and Tracey could see herself reflected in Artemis's wide eyes then Artemis let out a surprised bark of a laugh. She raised a hand to touch the bright red mark and kept laughing. "Oh the Voice was wrong about you. So was the Enemy for that matter."

"What are you talking about Artemis?" Tracey asked, shaking her head in confusion and lowering her hand into her lap again. "What did they say about me?"

Artemis pulled the blanket up on her shoulders again. "It was more the implication that you're more a hinderance than a help. And they are so fucking wrong."

"You got that right."

Cracking a smirk, Tracey let out a low laugh before shifting her form to her Siberian tiger form, a fast becoming favorite of hers. The instant she did this, she no longer was effected by the cold night air that rippled through her fur. She huffed a breath of air into Artemis's face before looking at the others and settling down for the evening. Mulling over everything Artemis had told her and then what she learned from her trial in the temple, even the parts she didn't like.

Autolycus leaned in closer to the rest of the group. "And just what was that all about?" He asked quietly.

Amphiaraus smirked at him. "And here I thought you'd stopped asking such questions about the affairs of women."

Everyone around the fire chuckled as sparks soared into the frigid night.


	24. Chapter 24

When they finally reached the last temple Tracey was sure everyone was going to die of hypothermia and maybe oxygen deprivation. They were up high enough that they could see the curvature of the earth and she had the strange urge to transform into a bird. The last Temple was a sculpted marble creation that was so completely grecian it was almost comical given the six previous temples. Hercules strode in with no hesitation and everyone huddled together to wait.

Amphiaraus tapped Tracey on the arm and held a small object towards her. When she took it it was a wooden disk with a carving of a little bird worked into the surface then gave Artemis a wooden disk with a rabbit carved into it. He gave her a cheeky smile as he did. One by one the others started giving her and Artemis little keepsakes, Autolycus gave Artemis a set of tiny throwing knives, to Tracey he gave a small golden disk with writing stamped into it that she couldn't read but he assured her it was to ward off bad dreams. Atalanta gave Artemis a woven leather headband with bright beads worked into it, she gave one in matching colors to Tracey and even showed them how to tie them correctly. Iolaus flushed bright pink when he gave them each a scroll with their likenesses sketched in charcoal. Tracey had been rendered in soft lines standing on the precipice as she ran through her meditative forms. He'd captured the graceful lines and she almost expected the image to move. Artemis was all strong lines and intensity. He'd spent a long time on her eyes trying to capture the nearly overwhelming intensity in her eyes and she looked stern, dangerous and Tracey wondered if her namesake Goddess looked like this sometimes.

"Hercules isn't any good at gifts." Amphiaraus said and handed them each a twisted silver band. He got these as payment for a service he did two sisters and thought it would be appropriate to give them to you."

Artemis slide the ring onto her thumb and gave him a curious look. "Why the gifts now?"

He gave her patient look. "I see the future, You won't be around to see the end of this."

"Yes I didn't think that we would but here to see the end, but I believe we have done what we were sent here to do. We wish you the best of luck for whatever comes next and try to stay out of trouble." Tracey replied with a soft laugh and placing her silver ring on her finger with her high school ring with a smile. "Thank you all for these gifts, we will treasure them always..."

She tied the woven band Atalanta gave her around her forehead and tucked away the gold talisman into her satchel with the carved bird she noticed reminded her a lot like Nargis. The black bird figurine Artemis swiped from Sherlock back in London had also come to settle in her bag too. Tracey couldn't stop looking at her portrait and gave Iolaus a kind smile, praising him highly for his drawing abilities.

"An amazing and clever story teller who paints pictures in people's minds with his words, also has a secret talent for drawing too... I wonder what other talents you have that you're keeping secret from us."

He flushed a little and Autolycus nudged him in the ribs. "Poor lad, he's usually so verbose around the ladies and here you two have him tongue tied."

"They're different." Iolaus snapped. "Women here are one thing but these two are almost like the Gods themselves."

Artemis laughed and patted his arm. "We aren't Gods Iolaus but thank you for the compliment."

"We're a little bit more personable than the Gods and we can relate more to humans in so many ways they can't." Tracey answered, giving Iolaus a smile as she rolled up her scroll and tucked it away in her satchel. "Unlike them, we actually take the time to get to know the people we interact with on a daily basis and even the new friends we may make on the journeys we take."

She nodded and looked toward the temple before stretching upward and out.

"We always try to have a positive effect on others. Thank you again for the gifts and whatever happens after we leave, you should know that we will always be thinking about you and the friendship you've shared with us."

Iolaus opened his mouth to respond when the ground under them shook, they all looked over at the temple and stared as fire began seeping out of the windows flowing along the ground like approaching water. Artemis swore and yanked her basket of spell supplies off her back and started digging through it. The flames rolled along the ground like an incoming tide and Amphiaraus moved his spear to the crook of his arm. "Somehow I think that is a bad sign."

Artemis had a bag of something in her hands and was rushing around them in a circle leaving a line of salt behind her. She was muttering furiously under her breath. "Autolycus, a knife. Now."

He handed her a knife and she made a quick cut on her left forearm and dripped blood onto the salt. Tracey ushered them closer together and watched Artemis work, but also kept her eyes on the rolling flames that were coming at them.

"What are you doing Artemis?" Tracey asked before leaning over to speak with Amphiaraus. "Do you think Hercules pissed off the Gods?"

"Maybe not all of them." He replied mildly.

"I've got a circle of power up. Stay inside the salt circle everyone." Artemis said and started stood hands outstretched chanting under her breath as the fire spilled up to the edge of the circle and stopped, it flowed around the circle like water around a rock and the heat was nearly unbearable.

Tracey started to fan herself with her hand and wiped her forehead with the hood of her cloak.

"Damn!" She growled loudly, shielding her face and eyes from the flames as they burned the underbrush and vegetation around the ring of salt and blood. "I wish I had my elemental abilities like the first time we came to Ancient Greece then I too could help here."

The flames pooled and lapped at the edge of the salt circle and Amphiaraus eyes widened. "Two women standing atop Mount Olympus amid a sea of Fire." He murmured and Atalanta gave him a sharp look The Mountain shook again and they thought they could hear words being shrieked but it was impossible to hear over the roaring flames. And then the flames began to recede like the tide of some hellish ocean. Artemis was shaking as she kept chanting holding the circle as the flames kept receding, fading away. The Temple began to shimmer and Tracey thought she could see towering forms surrounding Hercules and a figure against a fading wall that was blackening and disappearing.

Amphiaraus suddenly turned to Tracey his eyes unfocused. "You have done well but your task is not yet done." His voice was his own but the words sent shivers through Tracey.

Tracey rubbed her arms, wanting to erase the goosebumps that voice always gave her.

"Gods above I really hate it when this happens." She muttered and looked at her comrades. "It looks like this is goodbye my friends. Be well and take care of each other... Atalanta, give Autolycus a chance because you never know, he may surprise you. And Autolycus, if you'd stop insulting Atalanta you might get somewhere with her... Please say goodbye to Hercules for us."

The last flickers of the Sea of Fire faded away. "You have done well but your task is not yet done." Amphiaraus intoned again and they faded out leaving the rest to stand staring at Hercules and the towering figure that could only be Zeus.


	25. Chapter 25

Hercules stared around the temple's interior and sighed. It looked like a hundred temples he'd been in over the years, temples to Hera, Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite, the litany went on and on. When he'd been younger he'd been more devout but years of seeing the petty cruelty of humans in the name of the Gods had soured him to it, And after a while he'd even stopped believing the Gods even existed, after all humans didn't really need the impetus of the Gods to be cruel or monstrous, Monsters didn't even have to be real when he considered some of the truly monstrous things he'd seen humanity do.

The marble pillars seemed to mock him as he strode in moving towards the altar, it seemed the Gods were real after all though, this new God was wreaking havoc on Greece and Artemis and tracey had come to help change it, he didn't think they'd realized just how much they'd changed things though. His strange little family of misfits and outcasts was more whole, more at peace for having taken this journey even if they didn't remember what they'd seen in the temples. He stopped in front of the altar and waited, wondering what he was supposed to be facing in here.

The answer appeared rising up out of a massive brasier, a male form nearly 8 feet tall wreathed in flame stared down at him. "Hercules, son of Zeus, savior of mortal kind." The voice sounded like an avalanche and was thick with disdain and sarcasm.

"Echthros I assume." Hercules drawled.

The New God inclined his head. " I am that. Tell me mortal, why have you come?"

Hercules folded his arms as if he were bored. "I came to ask the aid of the Gods in stopping you, I take it they're a bit indisposed?"

Echthros laughed and the fires blazed higher. "They were so busy with their petty squabbles that they didn't even notice my rise to power and now it's too late."

"So what do you have planned now that you are in power?" Hercules had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what this new God, whose name meant Enemy, had in mind.

"Oh I think you know. I will burn the world and feed on the ashes. I am a God of Chaos after all and I've had a long time to plan." He swept an arm out and one wall of the Temple vanished replaced with terrible scenes of Tartarus opened spilling the dead into the living world, Mount Olympus was a smoking ruin and the seas boiled. Hercules ground his teeth watching the world burn.

"We'll stop you." He snarled.

"How? You are five mortals, just a Thief, a broken Amazon, a Seer who is losing his Sight, an Untested Boy and you… a damaged demi God with no real power besides your strength and what good is strength when you face a God?" Echthros sneered

Hercules frowned, the God had forgotten about Artemis and Tracey and he suddenly grinned. "You've missed a pair." He said.

"Impossible. I have seen you five on your quest up the mountain." Echthros snapped.

Hercules shook his head. "Not five, Seven. You missed the two women we traveled with. A sorceress and a shapeshifter. Not very bright for a God are you?"

"There are no such creatures here. This is a world without such powers." The flames around the new God writhed in agitation.

That was an odd thing to say Hercules realized. "You aren't from our world. You're like Artemis and Tracey, you wound up here somehow."

Ehthros hissed in agitation. "No, Impossible! They cannot be here!"

"They're here alright and they've brought magic with them." Hercules retorted enjoying the agitation.

The room was suddenly awash in flame though none of it seemed to touch Hercules. It flowed through the temple and poured out through the windows as Echthros agitation grew. "I was promised, this was a barren world with no magic… he lied!" Echthros howled and stalked towards Hercules who stood his ground.

"They brought magic with them and now you're shit out of luck." He smirked.

There was a flash of light and another figure appeared in the temple, another flash and another figure and another until the temple was filled with fire and the immense towering forms of the Gods. Echthros quailed staring around him at the Gods with their beauty and their power wrapped around them like armor. One by one they leveled their pointed fingers at the New God who howled throwing his arms up to ward them off. "It was promised! A Barren world to despoil!"

Hercules couldn't be sure but he thought there was an answering voice in the sea of flames but he couldn't make out the words. Echthros began to shrink, the flames that made up his form dulling to a sullen red then going charcoal black in patches. He tried to gather the sea of flames around him to save himself and Hercules decided he'd had enough and swung his massive club catching Echthros under the chin and sending him reeling into the wall.

The new God lay against the wall, patches of charcoal black spreading as the flames died away then he too was gone. One by one the Gods vanished, nne so much as glancing in his direction until there was only Zeus left behind. Zeus remained as the temple began to fade around them Neither spoke, Hercules couldn't think of a damned thing to say to his Father and Zeus seemed content to remain silent. Autolycus, Amphiaraus, Atalanta and Iolaus were standing in a cluster a few feet away all staring at Hercules and Zeus, He barely registered that they stood in a circle of bare rock while the rest outside the circle was blackened and seared, some of the rock was even melted as though an enormous heat had melted the very earth. Artemis and Tracey were nowhere to be seen however.

After a moment Zeus inclined his head to Hercules in a respectful sort of way and Hercules returned the gesture then Zeus too was gone. He walked back to his friends, his strange little family and Autolycus let out a shaky breath. "Well then, who wants off this mountain before we freeze to death?"

 **Hey everyone, I just wanna say thanks for being so patient. I run my own business and summer is the busiest time of year for us. I have several new fics in this series that are written but not edited and I just don't have enough time to work on them right now but they will be coming! Sso pleas keep us in mind and watch for the next Fic featuring Artemis and Tracey!**


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